Sokolov Aleksandr Evgenevich

In February 2022, a criminal case was opened against a local resident, Alexander Sokolov, in the Smolensk region. He was accused of rehabilitating Nazism: approving crimes established by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal, humiliating the honor and dignity of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, and insulting the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland. According to the investigation, in 2021 Sokolov posted four publications on his page on the social network VKontakte. In them, he approved the actions of Cossack formations of the SS who fought on the side of Nazi Germany and their leader Pyotr Krasnov, insulted the honor and dignity of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, and also insulted the memory of the soldiers of the special purpose units of the Red Army." At the time of the investigation, the defendants in the case were placed under a written undertaking not to leave and to behave properly. On December 14, 2022, the Smolensk Regional Court found Alexander Sokolova guilty and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment in a penal colony-settlement and a fine of 100 thousand. rubles. He was also banned from posting materials on the internet for 3 years. On March 1, 2023, the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the First Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction changed the verdict: the court released Sokolov from paying a fine of 100 thousand. rubles due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for one of the episodes. In the rest of the part - 2 years of imprisonment in a settlement colony and a ban on posting materials on the Internet for 3 years - the verdict was left unchanged.