Activists in Kalmykia describe practice of police applying law on discrediting armed forces

In Kalmykia, two residents were fined 30,000 roubles each under the new law on discrediting the armed forces. The police also drew up protocols under the above law against four activists, including the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Sovremennaya Kalmykia’ (Modern Kalmykia), who posted a video on YouTube several days before the new law went into effect.

A video message from Valery Badmaev, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Sovremennaya Kalmykia”, regarding the special military operation in Ukraine was posted on his YouTube channel on February 27, the editor-in chief himself has informed the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent today.

The police did not come immediately after the video message appeared on social media, because they were “waiting for the new article of the Code of Administrative Offenses to come into force,” the editor-in-chief of the “Sovremennaya Kalmykia” suggested. According to his version, more than ten people have been brought to administrative responsibility for speaking out against the special military operation of the Russian troops in Ukraine.

Lawyer Sanal Ubushiev confirms that since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, more than 10 residents of Kalmykia have been brought to justice. At the same time, according to Sanal Ubushiev, only Elizaveta Perekrestova, a resident of Elista, and Arslang Sandjiev, the chair of the Congress of the Oirat-Kalmyk people, were fined under the new article on discrediting the actions of the armed forces (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), and other activists who held pickets in February were fined for violating the procedure for holding public events.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 28, 2022 at 06:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.