Russian “courts” continue to fine the residents of Crimea for the so-called “discrediting of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”. Analysts of the Crimean Human Rights Group analyzed court decisions issued by Russian-controlled “courts” in the territory of Crimea for October 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024.
During this period, the Crimean “courts” issued at least 211 decisions on ordering administrative punishments for Crimeans for violating Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.
These decisions include a case when clothes became the fact of discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. A resident of Armiansk was fined RUR30,000 for the clothes he was wearing when he came to the shop. This was a yellow T-shirt with the image of the coat of arms of Ukraine and the word UKRAINE written in blue.
In another case, the Ukrainian song “Good Evening, We Are from Ukraine” was recognized as discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Two residents of the Leninskiy District were fined RUR40,000 each for listening to this song in a public place. The decision text states that this slogan is an unofficial “military-patriotic slogan” in Ukraine and is used in media files aimed at discrediting the trust to, authority and image of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
An employee of the tourist electric car in Yalta was fined for listening to Ukrainian news channels about the events in Crimea that were calling the Russian military occupiers.
The Crimean residents were largely fined for Ukrainian symbols used on social networks and messengers, e.g., Instagram, Facebook, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Telegram, Viber, YouTube. Topics of multimedia content the Crimeans are fined for include:
- inscriptions “No War”, “No War in Ukraine”, “Glory to Ukraine”, “Glory to Heroes”, “I am proud to be Ukrainian”, “Ukraine Will Win”;
- publications with the image of the coat of arms, flag and national colors of Ukraine;
- posts about disagreement with the Russian aggression in Ukraine;
- condemnation of war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine on social networks;
- appeals to Russians to sign public anti-war petitions to stop the war in Ukraine;
- appeals to Russians to search the media and messengers for truthful information about the aggressive war that Russia is waging in Ukraine;
- announcements of collecting donations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
- videos in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the images of Ukrainian national symbols and the Ukrainian military;
- posts and videos that contain obscene insults of the Russian occupiers;
- the statement that there is an authoritarian regime in Russia;
- expressions of condolences to a fallen Ukrainian soldier;
- rejecting a draft notice to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with the words “I will not serve a terrorist state”;
- posts criticizing Putin’s policy;
- a video that contains obscene insults of Putin;
- congratulations on the Independence Day of Ukraine and the statement that Ukraine will win;
- a personal photo with the flag of Ukraine in hand;
- animation with images of Putin, Shoigu and Kadyrov, mocking the actions of Russians in Ukraine;
The Crimeans were also fined for likes, comments, and reposts, for instance
- for liking a video posted on the official Instagram page of the Ukrainian president, where the Russian war crimes were condemned;
- for reposting the New Year greetings of the President of Ukraine;
- for comments under the video on YouTube with the captions “Simferopol. Glory to Ukraine!”, “Welcome to Simferopol!!! Simferopol is Waiting!!!”;
- Reposting of the anti-war narrative by the Russian writer Dmitriy Glukhovskiy and reposting of the anti-war poem by the Russian singer Andrey Makarevich.
In addition, the woman was fined RUR50,000 for having published a photo of Flag of Ukraine, and inscription “Glory to Ukraine”, and talked obscenities at the Russian occupiers in the Telegram school parents’ private chat with 19 subscribers.
Apart from this, the Crimean residents are fined for talks in public places, offices and in street, if these are:
- shouting remarks condemning Russian aggression and/or the “Glory to Ukraine” slogans in the street;
- talking in the street with accusing Putin personally of war crimes;
- refusing to say hello in the morning to the neighbor having a Z symbol on his backpack and expressing a negative attitude towards the aggressive war that Russia is waging in Ukraine;
- expressing disagreement with the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine being at the market;
- statements in the bar in which a man called the Russian military murderers and fascists and accused the Russian military of killing civilians of Ukraine;
- an image of the Ukrainian flag and the inscriptions “Occupiers Go Away!!!”, “We Are Waiting for the Armed Forces of Ukraine” made with a marker on the ballot paper during voting in the illegitimate elections of the President of Russia;
- statements in public places that the Russian Federation illegally attacked Ukraine.
There was also a case when a Crimean was fined not only for his statements in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and contemptuous phrases addressed to the Russian military in the street, but also for spitting on a Z-symbol badge pinned to the clothes of his interlocutor.
The Crimean residents are also fined for conversations at the workplace:
- three residents of Yevpatoriya were fined for talking at their workplace about the fact that Crimea is the territory of Ukraine and expressing dissatisfaction with the policy pursued by the President of the Russian Federation;
- a sailor who does not have a Russian passport, but only a Ukrainian one, was fined for saying in the conversation with friends on board the ship that Crimea is Ukraine and that he supports the policy of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to the Crimean “judges”, all these actions discredit the Russian army and, therefore, should be classified as administrative offense,
The main reason for opening cases are reviews of Crimean social networks by security service staff. Such reviews are called active search measures (38 cases out of 80). Some of these actions are described as “Observation”, “Inquiring”. Other reasons for opening cases are appeals to the occupation police by other peninsula residents who report on their fellow citizens (25 cases out of 80) and checks of mobile phones of Crimean residents carried out by the Russian security men at checkpoints located at the exit from the occupied Crimea (16 cases out of 80). In addition, one incident was recorded when the case was opened after checking a person’s phone during the search.
The usual amount of fine is RUR30,000, with the maximum fine recorded for this period reaching RUR50,000.
Only 6 decisions on imposing a fine of RUR50,000 were recorded (out of 80 analyzed). One fine of this amount was imposed on a woman who published an animation presenting Putin, Shoigu and Kadyrov signing “a provocative song about the SVO in Ukraine” on the social network. The other case of maximum fine was the man who had accused Putin personally of war crimes committed in the territory of Ukraine.
