On September 19, the Moscow City Court held a meeting on an appeal against the verdict in the case of Moscow municipal deputy Alexei Gorinov, who was sent to a colony for 7 years under an article about “fakes” about the Russian army. The deputy's sentence was reduced by one month – up to 6 years and 11 months in prison.
A preliminary conspiracy was removed from the charge (joint charge with deputy Elena Kotenochkina).
The appeal was closed to journalists and listeners. Neither his wife and son, nor Gorinov's mother were allowed to attend the trial. Judge Olesya Mendeleeva explained that the meeting was closed due to threats received by the court. “The meeting was closed in connection with paragraph 4 of part 1 of Art. 241 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (to ensure the safety of participants in the trial),” the authors of the Telegram channel “Freedom to Alexei Gorinov” said. According to the presiding judge, the judge of the Meshchansky District Court received threats and a criminal case was initiated.
Sota reported that Gorinov fell seriously ill in detention, but he could not get treatment.
On July 8, Gorinov was sentenced to 7 years in a penal colony under the article on military "fakes". According to investigators, on March 15, during a meeting of the Council of Deputies, the politician made a number of statements "containing data about the RF Armed Forces that do not correspond to reality." Gorinov called the "special military operation" in Ukraine a "war" and spoke of the deaths of Ukrainian children since the beginning of the invasion.
After the outbreak of the war, Roskomnadzor demanded that the Russian media use only the wording “special operation” when covering the invasion of Ukraine. On March 2, a law on “fakes” about the actions of the Russian army was submitted to the State Duma and adopted two days later by a decree of Vladimir Putin, as a result of which censorship was actually introduced in the field of coverage of the activities of the military. Punishment for "fakes" provides for criminal liability up to 15 years in prison. In Russia, criminal cases are being initiated massively against citizens both under articles on “fake news” and on “discrediting” the army.