Sochi resident fined for discrediting Russian Army after his post in memory of Navalny

Jean-Michel Otelli was fined 30,000 roubles for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. The Adler District Court of Sochi found an offense in reposting a publication about the Alexei Navalny’s death with a call to come to the polling stations on March 17.

According to the court’s version, Jean-Michel Otelli is an owner of the “Opposition Shot” Telegram chat, in which he posted an entry from another Telegram channel. The publication places responsibility for Alexei Navalny’s death on the authorities of Russia. It also contains a pacifist hashtag and a hashtag calling for people to come to the polling stations on March 17 at noon and hold an action #freedomforpoliticalprisoners. The court recognized the above actions as discrediting the Russian Army. Jean-Michel Otelli fully admitted his guilt, and the court recognized that circumstance and repentance as mitigating circumstances.

As follows from the information posted on the website profi.ru, where Jean-Michel Otelli offers his services as a tutor, he graduated from the Moscow State University, the Faculty of Political Science, took the Council of Europe course “European Human Rights Education Programme for Lawyers” and other educational programs in Russian and foreign institutions.