The Basmanny District Court of Moscow sentenced in absentia a former employee of the Ministry of Justice in the case of military «fakes» to 8 years in a general regime penal colony, who, together with her husband, sent anti-war letters to colleagues (paragraph «d» of Part 2 of Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). This was reported by a correspondent of «Mediazona» from the courtroom.
Earlier today, the prosecutor asked to sentence Maria Mamedova to 8.5 years in a general regime penal colony with a ban on publications on the Internet for 4 years.
Maria Mamedova's husband Denis has already been convicted on the same charge. Almost the full quote of the anti-war letter that the couple sent to colleagues, together with the verdict, was published on the Basmanny Court website.
In this letter, the Mamedovs call the war with Ukraine an occupation and a «threat to the territorial integrity of another country,» and the airstrikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure a crime against humanity. The Mamedovs also wrote that «now Russia can get its comeuppance from Ukraine, NATO, and the world — this is a well-deserved punishment for malice, delirium, and aggression.»
“Putin has been terrorizing Russia for 22 years, intimidating its citizens, making us weak-willed, stupid sheep. All this time he worked against Russia, against Russian citizens, against the success of the country and the well-being of the Russian people. The interests of Russia’s development and prosperity are of no interest to him,” the letter says.
Another paragraph of the Mamedovs’ letter states that Vladimir Putin “removed politically objectionable people and competitors” — these words are followed by a list of names that the Basmanny Court did not publish in its decision, part of this quote looks like this: “Murders, full name, full name, full name, assassination attempt Full name, putting him in prison for far-fetched reasons.”
“The Russians must tell the current government that it made a catastrophic mistake by attacking Ukraine. These are people just like us, they also have a Fatherland, which they defended and will defend! No need to go near them! I oppose the war with Ukraine! I don’t understand how Russia, how its citizens allowed this to happen. This is a monstrous crime!!! For Russians, this means that we live in one country and we are ruled by a mentally ill dictator. The war with Ukraine is a disaster and a shame, and those who organized it, those who organize it, participate and support it are traitors to Russia and the Russian people. And if you are ready to support this bloody regime, you are accomplices,” says the letter about the war with Ukraine.
In their address to colleagues they write that they do not want to be accomplices in war crimes, their whole family is against the war, and also against Vladimir Putin and his “thieving elite”, for whose crimes “we and the next generations of Russian citizens will pay.”
“They are waging a war to destroy the territory as such. By the way, Russian military personnel who kill defenders and civilians of Ukraine, rob their country, destroy their homes, carry out terrorist attacks, torture and rape Ukrainians, could refuse all this and not be complete creatures. They could protest and refuse to go to the criminal war, they could run away or hide, they could go to prison, but not be involved in all this shit unleashed by the Botox rat in the Kremlin,” the Mamedovs wrote.
In conclusion, they urge the recipients of the letter to protest against the war, because “silence is a sign of consent, in this case, agreement with Putin’s right to commit global crimes.” The letter ends with the words: “The danger of nuclear war is closer than ever. Today the President of Russia is a global threat that must be destroyed. Freedom for Russia!
Maria and Denis Mamedov worked at the North Caucasus Regional Center of Expertise under the Ministry of Justice. Maria Mamedova told Mediazona that after the announcement of “partial mobilization” in the fall of 2022, she refused to organize a fundraiser for the military at the request of her superiors and left Russia with her husband. The couple now live in the United States.
After leaving, the Mamedovs began actively publishing anti-war materials on social networks, and also wrote an anti-war letter and sent it to the working email addresses of all Russian laboratories and forensic centers. In addition, the couple sent more than 35 complaints to the Prosecutor General's Office and other authorities demanding to stop the war in Ukraine and bring Vladimir Putin and other perpetrators to justice.
In October last year, Denis and Maria Mamedov were put on the wanted list and in absentia arrested in the case of military “fakes.” In April, they were re-arrested in absentia — this time on charges of promoting terrorism. At the end of June, Maria Mamedova was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of promoting terrorism. Denis Mamedov has already been sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in the case of military “fakes”; in the case of promoting terrorism, he was sentenced in absentia to 16 years in prison.