Court fines Russian rock musician Yury Shevchuk for ‘discrediting’ Russian army

A court in Ufa has issued a 50,000-ruble (€800) fine to Yury Shevchuk, the leader of Russian rock band DDT, for “discrediting” the Russian army, attorney Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora human rights group, said.

Upon Shevchuk’s request, his attorney read out his written statement in court. 

“I have always been against war, in any country and in any time. I spoke out against the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Abkhazia, Georgia, Ossetia, Karabakh, Iraq, etc. (you can watch the DDT anti-war concert in 2008) and other DDT concerts over the years.

I think that any problems and political issues between countries and nations should be resolved via diplomatic means.

The song “Don’t Shoot” was written in 1980.

I am also against the war in Donbas, which has continued for the past eight years, and the current special military operation in Ukraine,” Shevchuk wrote.

Earlier, a linguistic expert and a psychologist failed to find a negative assessment of the Russian army in Shevchuk’s speech.

On 18 May, police charged Shevchuk with “discrediting” the Russian army over his anti-war statements during a concert in Ufa. “Once again, the youth of Russia and Ukraine perishes. Old men, women and children are being killed. All this for some Napoleonic plans of another Caesar of ours, right? My friends, the Motherland is not the president’s ass. You don’t have to kiss it all the time. The Motherland is a dirt-poor old woman selling potatoes at the train station,” he said.