CrimeaSOS: “courts” in Crimea issued at least 612 resolutions for “discrediting the army of the russian federation” in 2 years 

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, occupation courts in Crimea have issued 612 rulings on suspicion of “discrediting the russian army”. At least 52 of them were issued since the beginning of 2024 – during January and February. This was reported by CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko. 

“The provision of russian legislation on liability for allegedly “discrediting the russian army” is a tool for suppressing dissent and resistance”, – Yevhenii Yaroshenko believes.
Since the adoption of this provision, the most decisions on bringing to administrative liability under Art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the russian federation were issued by the following institutions: 

• “Kyiv District Court of Simferopol” — 99 resolutions;  
• “Armianske City Court” — 53 resolutions;  
• “Yevpatoria City Court” — 52 resolutions;  
• “Yalta City Court” — 46 resolutions;  
• “Feodosia City Court” — 45 resolutions. 

The record holder for the number of resolutions discrediting the russian army since the beginning of 2024 is the “Armianske City Court”. It issued 18 such resolutions.  

When a person is brought to administrative liability under the same article for the second time in a year, criminal liability follows. After the introduction of criminal liability for the public distribution of “fakes” about the russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the russian federation), 2 sentences were handed down since the beginning of the full-scale war. A person can be prosecuted for spreading information about the russian-Ukrainian war and expressing any opinion that contradicts the position of the Kremlin.  

In addition, over the two years, “courts” in Crimea issued 6 verdicts in criminal cases under the article on repeated discrediting of the russian army (Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code of the russian federation).  

As a reminder, most of the “offenders” under this article were fined in the amount of RUB 30,000, which is approximately UAH 14,547. At the same time, the violation entails a fine of up to RUB 100,000.