On March 15, 2022, during a meeting of the Krasnoselsky Municipal District Council, Aleksey Gorinov
said a few harsh words about the “special operation” and proposed to honour the memory of killed Ukrainians with a moment of silence. The meeting
was being broadcast on YouTube, which provided grounds for accusing Mr. Gorinov of “public dissemination of false information”.
On the morning of April 26, 2022, Aleksey was detained and charged with “dissemination of false information using official powers” (article 207.3, part 2, sub-paragraphs
a, b, and
d). On the same day, April 26, law enforcement
officers searched the building of the Krasnoselsky Municipal Council. They broke down the doors and seized all the technical equipment.
A similar case under article 207.3, part 2 was launched against Head of the Krasnoselsky Municipal District, Elena Kotenochkina. She was accused of entering a “criminal conspiracy” with Mr. Gorinov with a view to “discredit the Russian army”. By the time the criminal charges against her were laid, Elena had already
left Russia. Ilya Yashin, a politician and a colleague of the defendants,
believes that the Council members had been denounced by their “colleagues” from the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian Parliament).