The Seversky City Court fined 65-year-old lawyer Marina Novikova a million rubles in the case of “fakes” about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, she published false information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by Russia on her Telegram channel Pravda Goroda Seversk. The court fined Novikova despite the fact that she asked for a real term, since she does not have the opportunity to pay the fine.
“I am ready to pay for the right to remain a person and a person, because I understand that there will be no acquittal. It was not for this that everything was started, and justice is not for me and not for people like me. I ask the court for only one thing – not to impose a fine, but immediately a term, because even for the minimum amount of the fine determined in the article incriminated to me < 700 thousand rubles, – approx. The Insider> and with an installment plan for five years, I have nowhere to get money, ”Novikova said in court on April 25.
The case against Novikova was opened on March 15, 2022. She became one of the first defendants under the “fake” article – she was introduced on March 4, 11 days before the case was opened. Novikova herself does not admit her guilt and insists that all her statements about Russia's attack on Ukraine are confirmed by open data transmitted to her by friends from Energodar.
“I have lived with dignity for 65 years already, I would like more, of course, but I will not change my conscience and years for my dignity … Therefore, if suddenly my face appears on a video recording with a penitential speech, these are psychotropics, I won’t repent in my mind and clear consciousness what, and I will never do that. <…> I did everything I could so that my fellow citizens would hear me and make the right choice, standing on the side of good and light. I did everything I could so that my granddaughter would not be ashamed of her grandmother. Perhaps my smart girl, having figured out everything on her own, will be proud of her grandmother, as I am proud of mine, ”Novikova said in her last word. Her defense plans to appeal the verdict after receiving the reasoning part of the verdict.