Municipal deputy Gorinov sentenced to 7 years for spreading fake news about the army
The Meshchansky Court of Moscow sentenced Aleksey Gorinov, a municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky District of Moscow, to seven years in prison for disseminating false information about the activities of the Russian Armed Forces.
“Recognize Gorinov guilty of a crime under Part 2 of Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, using their official position for reasons of political hatred or hostility towards any social group) and sentence him to seven years in prison in a correctional colony of general regime,” Judge Olesya Mendeleeva announced the verdict on Friday.
The day before, during the debate of the parties, the state prosecutor asked for a sentence for the deputy in the form of seven years in a penal colony.
At the end of April, Gorinov was arrested by the Presnensky Court of Moscow on charges of committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The deputy pleads not guilty.
The second defendant in the criminal case is the head of the Council of Deputies of the Krasnoselsky District, Elena Kotenochkina. She, as the defense side clarified to Interfax, is now not in Russia. Kotenochkina was arrested in absentia.
The searches in the council of deputies in April were reported by its deputy, oppositionist Ilya Yashin. The oppositionist was summoned for interrogation in investigative committee in this case as a witness, after interrogation he was released. Yashin also said that a criminal case had been initiated on the statements of State Duma deputies Alexander Khinshtein and Oleg Leonov.
According to the investigation, on March 15, 2022, during an open meeting of the council of deputies of the district, Gorinov and Kotenochkina made a number of statements “containing untrue data about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” The video recording of the meeting of municipal deputies was officially posted on the website and other Internet resources and caused a public outcry.
