In Novosibirsk, law enforcement officers came with searches to the relatives of the deputy of the city council Helga Pirogova, against whom a case of “fake news” about the army was opened immediately after the order of the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. She spoke about the raids on Twitter. Pirogova herself is not in Russia, she left the country a few weeks ago.
“I have a search at my house. Why at all? They squeezed me out of the country, why come at six in the morning with a search, give my relatives a nightmare?
According to her, with a search, the security forces went to her husband's parents, in whose house she last visited a year ago, as well as to their dacha. In addition, Pirogova claims that she cannot get through to her brother, who probably also had a search.
Pirogova's lawyer, Yegor Solunin, confirmed to the Network Freedoms project that the police had searched the apartment of the deputy and her relatives; he was not allowed to be present during the searches. It is not known what kind of case the searches are connected with, the lawyer suggested that it was with the case of “fakes” about the army. Also, the searches may be related to the case of “creating an extremist community” initiated against Alexei Navalny and his associates, Solunin emphasized. Pirogova was involved in the case as a witness.
Pirogova was detained on the evening of July 21 in Novosibirsk, and a protocol was drawn up against her about “fakes” about the Russian army. The reason for the detention was Pirogova's tweet dated July 15. The deputy commented on the Mediazona text about Russians who signed a short-term contract and died in Ukraine.
“It’s simply inexpressible, I want to revive them all, hit them hard on the cheeks and let them go back to the graves. And then in vain, or something, they arranged such a luxurious funeral, ”she wrote.
The day before the arrest, on July 20, Bastrykin instructed to check this tweet. A denunciation of Pirogova was written by the former speaker of the Novosibirsk Parliament Andrei Panferov and several other deputies of the legislative assembly of the Novosibirsk region from the Liberal Democratic Party and the City Council of Novosibirsk.