Young residents of Nizhny Novgorod, handed over by the director, appealed the verdict for fake news: what did the court decide

      The court upheld the sentence for Nizhny Novgorod teenagers for fake news

      The Nizhny Novgorod regional court upheld the sentence for former students of Lycée No. 82 for fake news about the Russian army. The decision was published by the "Ъ-Privolzhye" publication.

      Yegor Starshinov and Kirill Smirnov, previously convicted for spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces, will remain in prison for 2.5 years. The appellate panel rejected the defense's requests for a sentence reduction.

      The case began about two years ago when the then-students filmed and posted a video criticizing the actions of Russian military personnel on a Telegram channel with 25 readers. Someone anonymously sent the video to the school’s email, after which the principal filed a police report. Initially, the teenagers were fined, and after reaching adulthood, a criminal case was initiated.

      Lawyers argued that the punishment was too harsh: the accused expressed remorse, and the video's audience was minimal. However, the court agreed with the prosecution — they believe that the number of views is not important; the fact of publication itself is what matters.

      #Anastasia Larionovskaya