Documentary filmmaker Sergei Yerzhenkov and activist Sergei Syareva, who collaborated with Ksenia Sobchak, were sentenced to 8 months in prison. SOTA reports .
According to the investigators, in April 2022, the men put the inscription “Putin zae * al, go away” on the monument to Lenin in the city of Kasimov, Ryazan region. Shortly thereafter, the inscription, which could easily be washed off with water, was painted over with black paint by the approaching policemen.
After that, Yerzhenkov and Skorev were detained. The men were prosecuted under part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code (“Vandalism”), accusing them of holding an action motivated by political hatred. According to Yerzhenkov, after his arrest, he was handcuffed and beaten. According to the verdict handed down by the Magistrate's Kasimovsky Court of the Ryazan Region on May 3, they are forbidden to leave their cities of residence and change their place of work.
As the director himself told SOTA, five prosecutors and three justices of the peace were involved in his case. The court has already ruled on his case twice, the first time awarding him a fine of 25,000 rubles, the second – 50,000 rubles. However, the decisions were appealed to the prosecutor's office due to the fact that they allegedly “do not restore social justice” and do not take into account that the act was committed during the “SVO”.
Yerzhenkov admitted his guilt in order, as he said in his last word, to "finish all this." He also noted that if sentenced, he would be deprived of the opportunity to teach his students, perform professional duties and help his family. At the same time, the head of Kasimov's administration, according to Yerzhenkov, has no complaints against him. "What kind of justice are you talking about?" the director asked the court.
Earlier it became known that Yuriy Kokhovets, a participant in a Radio Liberty street poll, was charged under an article on “fakes” against the Russian army for his words about the genocide of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. "Experts" cooperating with the investigation admitted that his statement was made "motivated by hatred or enmity."