In the First Western District Military Court in St. Petersburg, the prosecution has finished presenting evidence in the case of 68-year-old human rights activist Aleksandr Skobov. Since April 2024, he has been in pre-trial detention center on charges of “justification of terrorism” because of his posts about the attack on the Crimean bridge. On September 29, he was charged with two more articles: justification of terrorism and participation in the activities of a “terrorist community” – the Free Russia Forum.
The prosecution read out protocols of the inspection of the Free Russia Forum’s website. The pages examined contained “appeals to help Ukraine in its struggle against Russian aggression”. The prosecution also read Skobov’s posts in which he spoke out about the trial of Darya Trepova, convicted of the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg. The posts said that “the girl was massacred only because she wanted to help Ukraine.”
The prosecution also announced resolutions to institute criminal proceedings under the article on public justification of terrorism against other participants of the Free Russia Forum: Ivan Tyutrin, Evgenia Chirikova, Gennadii Gudkov and Garry Kasparov.
With the defendant’s consent, the prosecutor read out medical documents that described his diseases – diabetes and cataracts, as well as surgery to remove them – and contained data on the man’s severely diminished eyesight and chronic hepatitis C.
It became known from the case file that the characterization given in the pre-trial detention center stated that Skobov was registered as “prone to terrorist activity.”
The characterization from Skobov’s pupil was also presented to the court – the human rights defender taught her history at school. In addition, the lawyer read out the characteristics from the man’s colleagues at school and from acquaintances whom he helped. All of them characterize the accused as a kind, caring, honest, unselfish person, always ready to help.
Aleksandr Skobov refused to testify to the court and only expressed his attitude to the charges. Here is a fragment of his speech.
“All my publicistic activity is a call to go to fight the aggressor who attacked Ukraine, to help it with weapons and ammunition. I see myself as a participant in the armed confrontation with the aggressor. I have my small part in the rockets and shells destroying the invaders. And I take responsibility for each destroyed occupant. No one attacked Russia, no one threatened it <…>.
The court in Russia proved long ago that it is an appendage of the Nazi dictatorship. It is pointless to seek justice from it. I do not recognize or respect this court. I will never stand in front of these people. I have nothing to talk to them about. Let the guns talk to them for me. I see no point in arguing with the puppets of the dictatorship about how conscientiously they apply their own laws.”
At the next hearing, the defense will begin presenting its evidence.
