The Syktyvdinsky District Court of Komi fined Komi Daily editor Valera Ilyinov 30 thousand rubles under the article on “discrediting” the Russian army (Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code). The publication itself reports this.
A report was drawn up against the journalist because of a statement by the Komi Daily editors “on the ninth anniversary of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” published on February 24, 2023. FSB expert Tsvetkova decided that the army was discredited by words about “aggressive actions, as well as hostility and cruelty of the Russian military towards civilians in Ukraine,” the publication said.
“In the territories occupied by Russia there is a humanitarian catastrophe, torture and execution of civilians, destruction of the cultural wealth of Ukraine. In occupied Crimea, since 2014, Russian security forces have been persecuting Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian activists, accusing them of “terrorism.” and are sent to prison for long terms,” the Komi Daily statement said.
On May 24, Ilyinov was fined 10 thousand rubles under the protocol of inciting hatred or hostility towards Russians (Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Code). The case was opened because of the article “How to change imperial thinking: instructions” dated August 2023. A psychological and linguistic examination by the FSB concluded that “Russians receive negative characteristics.”
The examination saw “negative assessments of the Russian people,” for example, in this passage: “Indeed, many residents of the countries closest to Russia understand Russian. But not everyone wants to speak it. People associate the Russian language with the language of the colonialists, because it was often instilled by force.”