The Basmanny Court of Moscow sentenced former police major Oleg Kashintsev in absentia to eight years in a penal colony in the case of “fakes” about the Russian army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). This is the first sentence in absentia under this article, according to “Network Freedoms”.
The court also stripped him of the rank of police major, as well as the right to administer social networks and hold positions in law enforcement for four years.
Kashintsev was accused of spreading “fake news” because of several posts on Instagram and Telegram. The prosecution considered false facts, including the assertion that Russia is waging a war with Ukraine, the assertion that Russia intends to seize the territories of Ukraine, and the assertion that Russian military personnel committed murders of civilians, torture, rape and looting.
The head of the Agora human rights group, Pavel Chikov, notes that the court’s decision in the Kashintsev case “opens a trend for sentencing in absentia under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code.”
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Oleg Kashintsev is a former police major from Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region. He worked in the police for 18 years, 14 of them in the criminal investigation department. He left Russia. In an interview with 7×7, Kashintsev said that the decision to leave the service was influenced by the events of 2019, such as the exclusion of candidates for elections to the Moscow City Duma.
In February 2020, he participated in a march in memory of Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, and in January and April 2021 in his city of Rybinsk, in actions in support of Navalny. He was detained, but the court dismissed the administrative case. In addition, Kashintsev sued the Ministry of Internal Affairs for 20,000 rubles for illegal detention at an unsanctioned rally in support of Navalny on January 31.
In December, he was detained on Red Square in Moscow: he held a one-man picket with a poster “Freedom to Navalny! Putin is a killer.” In the evening of the same day, the policemen released him, drawing up two protocols under articles on violation of the rules for participation in a public event (part 5 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and illegal wearing of uniforms (article 17.12 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
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