The Bryansk Regional Court acquitted Alexander Koshechko, a resident of the village of Netinka, in the case of the rehabilitation of Nazism. This was reported on the court's website.
A resident of the Bryansk region was accused of desecrating symbols of Russia's military glory (Part 3 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, on March 7, a drunken Koshechko, as a result of a quarrel, tore the St. George ribbon from a serviceman’s pea coat and trampled it into the mud, “while expressing a negative attitude towards the St. George ribbon.”
Later, the court found that Koshechko “did not commit any deliberate actions aimed at desecrating the symbol of Russia’s military glory,” since on the day of the conflict with the victim there was no St. George’s ribbon on the sleeve of his pea coat. As a result, the court considered that Koshechko’s actions “did not constitute a crime.”
“After examining all the evidence presented by the prosecution and defense, including the video recordings available in the case and the results of the examination carried out on them during the trial, the panel of judges came to the conclusion that there was no object of criminal assault on the sleeve of the witness’s peacoat during the conflict — St. George’s ribbon, which contradicts the circumstances specified in the indictment,” the press release says.
The criminal case against Koshechko was opened in May 2023. The crime was discovered by the prosecutor's office, and the investigation was carried out by the Investigative Committee. The Netinka resident himself was initially placed under house arrest, and later the preventive measure was replaced with a ban on certain actions.
Later it also became known that Koshechko himself was a victim in another criminal case. Witnesses to his quarrel with a serviceman on March 7 — deputy of the Netinsky Village Council of People's Deputies from United Russia Dmitry Brakovenko and his brother Evgeny Brakovenko — beat the man on the same day. According to investigators, they struck him at least five times with a shovel handle and at least three times with a baseball bat. In November, the Brakovenko brothers were sent to a pre-trial detention center; in December, their case of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm dangerous to human life (clause “a” of part 3 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code) was transferred to the Bryansk District Court.