St. Petersburg resident fined over remarks in a private WhatsApp call after being reported by the other participant

A St. Petersburg resident was fined over remarks made in a private WhatsApp call after being reported by the other participant

The Vyborgsky Court of St. Petersburg fined local resident Denis Timofeyev in a case on “discrediting” the army because of a statement made in a private WhatsApp conversation, Verstka noted.

According to the ruling, Timofeyev was reported to the police by the person he was speaking with. That person said that on December 31 at about 23:15, Timofeyev called him on WhatsApp video and during the conversation “repeatedly” made “destructive and discrediting” remarks about the Russian troops. Timofeyev’s interlocutor recorded the conversation and contacted the emergency service “112” on January 1.

Timofeyev’s defense insisted that the conversation was private in nature and could not be considered public dissemination of information. The court rejected that argument, stating that by making a video call, the man allowed for the possibility that his remarks were addressed to “an indefinite number of persons,” and that his words “could be heard by third parties”.

Maxim Olenichev, a lawyer cooperating with Pervy Otdel, called the court’s position mistaken in a comment to Verstka. According to him, a private WhatsApp call involving two people cannot in itself be public.

Olenichev noted that Timofeyev’s admission of guilt may have influenced the outcome of the case, because of this the judge may not have properly assessed the admissibility of other evidence.

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