In St. Petersburg, the trial in the case of military “fakes” against activist Victoria Petrova was moved to City Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 named after Skvortsov-Stepanov. The lawyer of the accused, Anastasia Pilipenko, reported this to SotaVision.
As Pilipenko explained, today’s hearing in Petrova’s case in the Kalininsky Court of St. Petersburg did not take place, since the activist was not brought to court. All subsequent hearings were decided to be closed at the request of the prosecution due to information containing medical confidentiality. The sessions themselves will now take place in a psychiatric hospital.
At the end of October 2023, the St. Petersburg City Court, while considering the defense’s appeal to extend Petrova’s arrest, decided to transfer her from the pre-trial detention center to a psychiatric hospital.
Then Pilipenko once again explained to the court that there was no reason to keep Petrova in a pre-trial detention center: she had no previous convictions, she was accused of committing a non-violent crime, she had her own home. In addition, the defense was ready to post bail in a million rubles. Petrova herself said in court that “no one can be kept in a pre-trial detention center just for the desire to stop the war and save people.”
In August, Petrova was sent for a forensic psychiatric examination, on the basis of which the court decided to appoint her a legal representative. Since the girl’s only relative missed several hearings, the court invited a representative from the Grazhdanka municipality, where the activist lived.
As Petrova’s lawyer wrote in her Telegram channel, the new representative by the name of Milachenko did not want to get acquainted with the case materials, but still sided with the prosecution and told the court that the activist should be left under arrest, since she “does not understand what she is saying.” . However, the court sent her to the hospital.
In mid-November, the lawyer reported that her client was being bullied in the hospital. According to Pilipenko, in the hospital Petrova was forced to undress “for a physical examination” in front of a group of doctors, which included men, was not allowed to change the pad, despite the girl’s requests, and they laughed when blood flowed down her legs.
“When Petrova refused to shower in front of male doctors, demanding that they leave her with women, they twisted her hands, tied her up, shook her and promised to beat her,” said Pilipenko. The lawyer said that the girl was “tied by the arms and legs to the bed and injected with medications, which made her practically unable to speak for two days.”
Petrova was arrested in May 2022. The girl is accused of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army based on political hatred (clause “e” of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) due to the publication of an anti-war post on VKontakte.