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The 2nd Eastern District Military Court has convicted Vladimir Mitrofanov, a resident of Barnaul, a major city in Siberia, on charges of inciting hatred against police officers (Part 1, Article 282 of the Criminal Code) and promoting terrorism (Part 2, Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code), reports “Siberian Express.”
This is already Mitrofanov’s second conviction in a criminal case; in total, he will spend nine and a half years in a general regime penal colony.
Larisa Pimonova, a St Petersburg resident who received a suspended sentence in a “fake news” case, said that the case against Mitrofanov was initiated because of two comments he left under her posts on VKontakte in April and May 2023. In one, he wrote that “Russia’s enemies are in the Kremlin,” and in another: “Beautiful!!! Combat mosquitoes are in action.”
In May 2023, he was sentenced to seven years in a general regime colony for inciting terrorism, spreading “fake news” motivated by political hatred (clause “d,” part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), and for the acquisition, possession or manufacture of narcotic substances (part 2, article 228 of the Criminal Code). In November, the sentence was upheld.
The charge of inciting terrorism was brought against Mitrofanov for a comment “with an assertion and reasoning for the necessity to burn representatives of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as well as individuals exercising their official powers in the Kremlin and in regional administration buildings” (original punctuation preserved—OVD-Info).
On VKontakte, he also posted comments about the war in Ukraine, expressing “hatred and hostility towards current state authorities of the Russian Federation, including the President"—this became grounds for opening a case under the article on military “fake news.”
The verdict stated that, during a search, security forces found drugs in Mitrofanov’s possession and charged him with their storage.