Ufa’s Savetsky District Court, which found the leader of DDT Yury Shevchuk guilty of “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” has released its motivation for handing out the penalty, reported state-run news agency TASS.
“Asking questions [before the performance in Ufa], Yury Shevchuk,
encouraged doubts as to the purpose of the Russian Armed Forces' presence in carrying out the Special Military Operation,
by substituting and compromising the goals and objectives of the Russian army in carrying out the Special Military Operation,” the court said in its ruling.
According to the court, it was not necessary to voice the terms “Russian Armed Forces” or “army” to commit the offence.
The court disregarded the results of both a linguistic and psychological evaluation, which found no appeals or negative assessment of the actions of the Russian army in Shevchuk's speech, considering them to be only the “opinions of individual specialists.”
Musician Yuri Shevchuk was fined 50,000 roubles (close to $835) on 16 August. The musician’s defence voiced his position on “discrediting” the Russian army in court — Shevchuk said that he had always been against wars, in any country and at any time.
Shevchuk was charged in Ufa after he made remarks about the war at a concert on May 18. “Once again, the youth of Russia and Ukraine perishes. Old men, women and children are being killed. All this for the 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.
