Court finds Dagestani resident Shamil Bayazitov not guilty of discrediting Russian army

A comment on a Telegram channel about a shelling attack on the Russian militaries does not discredit them, a court in Kizilyurt decides.

Earlier, law enforcers have drawn up a protocol on discrediting the Russian Armed Forces against Shamil Bayazitov, a resident of Dagestan. His case went to court in March, but the court pointed out significant shortcomings in the law enforcers’ files and returned the case to the police.

According to the police version, in January, Shamil Bayazitov posted a comment on a Telegram channel under a video of a shelling attack on the Russian positions in Ukraine. The comment caught the eyes of employees of the Centre for Combating Extremism (CCE) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan, the “OVD-Info”* reports.

In court, Shamil Bayazitov pleaded not guilty. The man emphasized that he did not plan to discredit the Russian Armed Forces, in which he himself served and for which he played at various sports competitions. The Kizilyurt District Court found that the comment did not discredit the Russian Armed Forces, so the case was closed, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.