A Yakut journalist Irina Kurilova was accused of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces and found guilty of committing a crime under the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (a decision was published on the Yakutsk City Court of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) website).
The police initiated proceedings against Irina Kurilova, who reposted an Internet publication, “Peoples on the Edge of Extinction,” published by the investigative media “The Important Stories” on her social network earlier this year.
The court considered that the content of the publication directly indicates that there is a decrease in the number of indigenous peoples, including due to their mobilization (for further service in the Russian army), a deterioration of the economic situation in the indigenous communities, a decrease in food supplies, and a reduction in the provision of medical equipment and medicines.
A particular expert invited by the police (the name was withheld, but everyone knows who this expert is as he signed all similar expertise for the police) concluded that the content of the article expresses a negative attitude toward the implementation of the “Special War Operation / SWO” (in Ukraine) and points to a causal link between the performance of the SWO and the reduction of the number of indigenous peoples in Russia as well as deterioration of their quality of life.
Kurilova herself explained in the court that she had no intent to discredit the Russian Armed Forces, as due to her professional task as a journalist, she collects information about indigenous peoples of the Russian North and posts valuable information on her page. The publication she posted was instrumental because of the statistics published there on the number of indigenous peoples.
But on May 19, the Yakutsky city court nevertheless found Kurilova guilty under part 1 Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation in discrediting the Russian Army, noting that “the placement of the above publication on a personal social network page falls under the term of dissemination of information, regardless of who was the author of the publication”.
In this case, the court did not fine the journalist and gave her a warning.