A St. Petersburg court has dismissed a criminal case against activist Tatyana Sichkareva, who had been charged with “discrediting the Russian military” for staging a protest with a sign saying “Don’t go and kill, don’t go and die”, the court press service reported on Friday.
In June, Sichkareva was detained with another activist as they staged a protest outside a military recruitment centre in St. Petersburg, both were subsequently charged with “discrediting” the Russian army.
As Sichkareva had refused to testify in the case, efforts by the prosecution to “match the writing on the sign” with her opinions on the war in Ukraine proved to be futile.
The judge argued that as armed conflict was not the sole cause of death, the allegations of discrediting the military “cannot be confirmed”, adding that the official who pressed the charges had based them on “nothing but speculation”.
