The Tambov district court has fined a deaf and speech-impaired Ukrainian national for “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces over a picture sent via Viber, the court’s website informs.
According to the court ruling, the 38-year-old man published a picture in a group chat on Viber, which showed a woman dressed in a national Ukrainian costume hitting a soldier in Russian military uniform, signed “I’m hitting the Russian soldier with a pussy willow on this great day.” Pussy willows are used by Orthodox churches as a symbol of Palm Sunday, celebrated one week before Easter.
The Ukrainian national admitted guilt during the court session. Kommersant newspaper reports that the man’s name is Oleksandr Shmaliukh. 7x7 news outlet notes that the man is from Mariupol. With the help of a sign language interpreter, Shmaliukh explained that he agrees with the protocol, and that he sent the picture “without thinking of its meaning,” after which he deleted it.
According to OVD-Info, a Russian human rights group that monitors political arrests, a total of 1,938 administrative charges were filed in Russia as of 19 May for “discrediting” the Russian army. The highest number of such cases is recorded in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Krasnodar region.