Krasnodar resident accused of spreading “fakes” about Russian Army

Vladimir Yarotsky, a resident of Krasnodar, who was earlier fined for calls for terrorism, has been charged under a criminal article on spreading “fakes” about the Russian Army.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in January 2024, a court sentenced Vladimir Yarotsky to one and a half years of imprisonment in a penal colony, considering the image of the St. George ribbon posted on a social networking service to be a desecration of a symbol of military glory. Later, Vladimir Yarotsky was accused of calling for terrorism and fined. On July 31, 2024, human rights defenders recognized him as a political prisoner.

An advocate of Vladimir Yarotsky requested the court to cancel his client’s detention. Earlier, the court had placed Vladimir Yarotsky under arrest until January 8 of this year. The defence has noted that Vladimir Yarotsky has been under arrest for more than six months. The Krasnodar Territorial Court replaced the detention with a ban on certain actions. That means, Vladimir Yarotsky is banned from leaving his house at night, using means of communication, communicating with witnesses, or changinghis place of residence.

According to the investigators’ version, in May 2023, Vladimir Yarotsky posted on his page in a social networking service an image of a male genital organ with a St. George ribbon tied to it, as well as Vladimir Putin.

“The St. George ribbon is a symbol of the Russia’s military glory, the public desecration of which entails liability,” the joint press service for the courts emphasized.