The city of Krasnodar District Court has sentenced a married couple that was criticising the war in Ukraine during a personal conversation in a local restaurant to a punishment in the form of an arrest and fine under the article on misdemeanour, local media outlet 93.ru reports.
The court ruled that Olesya Ovchinnikova has to pay a 1,000 rubles (€13) fine, while her husband Alexey Ovchinnikov has been arrested for 15 days, the couple’s lawyer Alexey Avanesyan says.
The lawyer notes that a protocol under the article on the public “discreditation” of Russian troops has been drawn up against the woman. It will be sent to the courts at a later date.
The couple’s defender emphasises that he finds no “public” aspect in their conversation held in the restaurant, seeing as the video with the woman was posted by an agent of Russia’s National Guard after her detention.
Photo: social media
The couple’s detention was reported yesterday, 30 January. The couple was detained after a restaurant visitor called the police. According to the husband and wife, the police officers handcuffed them, pushed them flat on the floor, and kept them in this position for about an hour before taking them to a police station. The police wrote a report for misdemeanour and kept Olesya and Alexey in the station overnight until the court hearing. Their nine-year-old daughter was left at home, other people had to look after her.
According to the couple, the police officers were frank in telling them that the detention was linked to their anti-war statements.
