The Sosnovsky District Court sentenced ex-soldier from the Tambov region Oleg Borisenko to six years probation and a fine of 150 thousand rubles. SOTA reports this.
Borisenko was found guilty of repeated “discrediting” of the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code) and possession of gunpowder (Part 1 of Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code). During the debate, the prosecutor asked to sentence him to six years in a general regime colony and a fine of 150 thousand rubles.
The reason for the criminal prosecution of a resident of the Tambov region was that the ex-soldier poured paint on a poster with military symbols — the letters Z and V As Borisenko explained at the trial, he considers these letters to be confusingly similar to the symbols of the army of Nazi Germany.
As lawyer Borisenko said, the reason for the case under Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code was gunpowder stored at the home of a former military man. According to the defense lawyer, the gunpowder was purchased a long time ago, when Borisenko was hunting, and had long expired — the defendant himself voluntarily gave it to the police.
Speaking with the last word, Borisenko recalled that he fought in Yugoslavia, Chechnya and Syria, and also participated in hostilities in the Donbass in 2014-15 as part of the Wagner PMC. Despite this, he opposes a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Glory to all fighters for the freedom of their peoples, past, present and future! Glory to everyone who gave their lives fighting the evil that the fascist regime created by GDP brought to my country! Glory to Ukraine and all the heroes of this country who stood up for its defense <…> Freedom to all political prisoners of Russia!” — SOTA quotes a fragment from Borisenko’s last words.
Information about the criminal case against the man appeared in May. Then he was given a written undertaking not to leave the place, but in June the court sent Borisenko to a pre-trial detention center. A week later he was transferred to house arrest, and in October the court refused to extend the measure of restraint.
Later it became known that Borisenko’s house arrest was chosen as part of the second criminal case about “discrediting” the army. The reason for it was anti-war videos.
In the first video, the Tambov resident called on the students of the Russian Military Patriotic Club, which was founded by Borisenko himself, not to go to war in Ukraine, since it is “criminal.” In the second video, the ex-soldier advised the governor of the Tambov region, Maxim Egorov, who actively supports military action, to go to the Polynkovskoye cemetery in Tambov and look at the graves of soldiers killed in Ukraine.
In May 2022, Borisenko was fined 30 thousand rubles in an administrative case of “discrediting” the armed forces (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code) because of a sticker with an anti-war inscription and a crossed out letter Z on the window of his car.