The Ivanovo Regional Court found architect Sergei Volkov guilty of “rehabilitating Nazism on the Internet” (Part 2 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and fined him two million rubles. Memorial reports this.
The reason for initiating a criminal case against Volkov was a post on his Telegram channel about Stalin’s role in the siege of Leningrad during World War II.
“There was no German blockade ring. Stalin abandoned the city as unnecessary and almost captured. Although there were opportunities to supply food there. And one important detail, the Nazis were cleared of the charge of the blockade at Nuremberg. Why do you think?” – wrote Volkov.
According to the forensic version, Volkov’s comment contradicts “the scientific paradigm of the Great Patriotic War in Russian historiography” and contains “attempts to discredit the highest military-political leadership of the USSR for inaction, cowardice or inhumane actions towards its population.”
The case against Volkov was opened in May 2022. At the same time, a search was carried out at his home. In February 2023, the case was tried by a jury. They made a decision, but judge Alexey Plyukhanov refused to read it. He said there was an error in the question paper and one of the jurors was biased, and then dismissed the panel. According to Volkov’s defenders, the original jury was going to find him not guilty.
