Aleksei Moskalev, detained on March 30 in Belarus under an article about repeated “discrediting” of the army, has disappeared, lawyers have not been able to contact him for more than a week. This was stated to The Insider by lawyer Vladimir Bilienko, who arrived at SIZO-1 in Tula, but did not find his client there.
Bilienko saw Moskalev for the last time at the trial on March 27. The lawyer does not know where the client is now:
“After March 27, I did not see him and did not communicate with him. I couldn't just sit stupidly and wait until the Federal Penitentiary Service deigned to call me and say that my client was detained. I called SIZO No. 1 in Tula on Friday, March 31, and they told me that they hadn't brought him yet and that they could call on Monday. On Monday, April 3, I called and they told me: “We do not give such information over the phone. If you want to know something, then come in person.” I arrived, at the moment it is not there.
After the verdict is passed, the case will be considered in the court of appeal, he will be brought to the Tula pre-trial detention center. I don't know where to turn. The fact that he was supposed to be brought to SIZO No. 1 is for sure, I left a lawyer's request there to be notified when he was brought. They took this paper from me and immediately said that they would immediately notify me when he arrived. That's all I can say for now. I don't even know what else to do in this situation. He may still be in Belarus, or he may already be in Russia.”
On the evening of April 4, lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov, who kept in touch with him, reported that Moskalev was missing. According to him, Moskalev was taken away in an unknown direction, since then he has not contacted.
On April 6, Moskalev will have a trial on the restriction of parental rights, another defendant will be Masha's mother Olga Sitchikhina. Earlier, she stated that she was ready to take the girl, but she had not seen her for more than seven years.
A case was opened against Moskalev for repeated “discrediting” of the army due to several publications in Odnoklassniki, including the crimes of Russian servicemen in Bucha and the murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Yelenovka. The prosecution demanded that Moskalev be sentenced to two years in prison. He escaped from house arrest, after which on the night of March 30 he was detained in Minsk. The fact that Moskalev had an underage daughter was considered a mitigating circumstance, but the prosecutor also recognized the commission of a “crime” during the “special operation” as an aggravating circumstance.
Moskaleva and his daughter Masha were persecuted after the girl drew an anti-war drawing at school during an art lesson. The teacher denounced her to the school administration, and the family was searched. The man was taken to the FSB, and Masha was sent to a shelter. Since then, Moskalev has been under house arrest in a criminal case on the repeated “discrediting” of the Russian army (part 1 of article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The man himself claims that he did not publish these posts, his page was hacked several times.