The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case against a Novosibirsk deputy Khelga Pirogova. Earlier today, the head of the committee Alexander Bastrykin instructed to “urgently open a criminal case” against Pirogova due to the comment she made on Twitter about funerals of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
Previously, the Novosibirsk region deputies asked that Pirogova be criminally liable for her comment; Bastrykin instructed that an investigation be conducted in regards to Pirogova’s behaviour.
On July 15, Khelga Pirogova made a Twitter comment — now deleted — on a story published by Mediazone outlet about Russian volunteers killed in the war. The story had a quote by a mother of one of the soldiers; she said that the district administration arranged a “dignified” funeral.
After the comment, the Novosibirsk region Legislature deputy Andrey Panferov called on the Novosibirsk mayor and council of deputies to take action against Pirogova; he emphasised that the reason for his appeal is “urgent”.
He quoted Pirogova’s tweet: “This is truly unbelievable, one would like to bring them back to life, slap them in their face, and then they can go back to their graves. Why would they miss out on such luxurious funerals.”
Pirogova herself called her tweet “too emotional”, but she stressed that her words had been taken out of context.
Earlier, a report was filed against her for “discrediting” the Russian army. Under this offence, she can be fined up to 50,000 rubles (€850). The woman was detained while walking out of a bar, in which a charity event was taking place. The goal of the event was to collect money to pay fines of people arrested during the 2021 anti-government protests.
