The Smolninsky District Court of St. Petersburg fined five municipal deputies who demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin resign because of the war in Ukraine. This is reported by the human rights project "Network Freedoms".
The deputies were found guilty under the article on “discrediting” the army (part 1 of article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
The author of the initiative, Dmitry Palyuga, was fined 47 thousand rubles, his colleague Nikita Yuferev – 46 thousand rubles. Dmitry Baltrukov, Ivan Chebotar and Anna Kiseleva were fined 44,000 rubles each.
“Of course, we will not pay the fines, we consider this court decision illegal and will challenge it in a higher authority,” MP Yuferev said in a conversation with The Insider.
The deputies of the Smolninskoye constituency decided to appeal to the State Duma on September 7. In their opinion, Putin's actions since the beginning of the war fall under Article 93 of the Constitution: he can be removed from office on the basis of charges of treason brought forward by the State Duma. Politicians stressed that Putin "harms the security of Russia and its citizens." After that, a statement demanding that Putin be impeached was signed by municipal deputies from 17 districts of Moscow and St. Petersburg at once. On September 13, the Smolninsky District Court in St. Petersburg decided that the municipal council of the "Smolninskoye" district could be dissolved.