"Interrogations of suspects carried out": Investigative Committee opened two more cases because of the photo of the Nazis in the "Immortal regiment online"

The Investigative Committee of Russia identified two more people who posted photos of the leaders of the Third Reich and traitors to the Motherland on the website of the Immortal Regiment Online movement during an action aimed at preserving and perpetuating the memory of the generation of the Great Patriotic War and its participants. This was announced by the official representative of the department Svetlana Petrenko.

She noted that the UK continues to work to preserve the memory of the veterans who fought against the Nazi invaders, as well as to counter the spread of knowingly false information about the activities of the USSR during the Second World War.

"The investigation established that a resident of Kemerovo, Dmitry Borodaenko, no later than May 6, 2020, in order to approve the crimes determined by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, posted a photo of the leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party Adolf Hitler in the public domain on the Memory Bank website on the Internet." - said Petrenko.

In addition, no later than May 2, Maxim Gusev from Perm posted on the Memory Bank website a photograph of Andrei Shkuro, a traitor to the Motherland, an SS Gruppenfuehrer.

It is noted that the intruders were identified by the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee together with the operational services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Upon the publication of photographs of Hitler and Shkuro, the department opened criminal cases on the grounds of a crime under Part 1 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Rehabilitation of Nazism").

“Investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia conducted interrogations of suspects, searches at their places of residence, and other investigative and operational measures are being taken to consolidate the evidence obtained. During the interrogations, both suspects admitted the facts of posting the above-mentioned photographs, while they realized who the faces depicted on them were, ”said an official representative of the Investigative Committee.

Recall that this year in connection with the pandemic of the coronavirus infection COVID-19, the action of the Immortal Regiment, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, was held online. About 3 million people took part in the action "Immortal Regiment Online". At a press conference following the event, it became known of repeated attempts to desecrate the memory of Soviet servicemen who died in the war. The Investigative Committee received data on the IP addresses from which the attackers tried to download profiles with photographs of Nazis and war criminals.

The Investigative Committee qualified these actions "as approval of the crimes established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal, or the dissemination of information expressing obvious disrespect to society about the days of Russian military glory associated with the defense of the Fatherland."

The identities of six malefactors have already been identified: Daniil Simonov and Daniil Shestakov from Perm, Andrey Shabanov from Samara, Denis Vorontsov from Volgograd, Vyacheslav Kruglov from Ulyanovsk and Muhammad El-Ayyubi from Kazan.

Criminal proceedings against Simonov, Shestakov and El-Ayyubi have already been completed, the cases have been sent to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Along with this, the chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, told RIA Novosti that representatives of the department would establish every fact of desecrating the memory of participants in the Great Patriotic War.

“At the moment, criminal cases are being investigated against residents of Perm, Samara, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Volgograd, Tula and a number of other cities,” he said.

Postponement of the Immortal Regiment procession to 2021

On July 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a conversation with workers of the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, announced that the Immortal Regiment march would take place in 2021. According to him, such actions cannot be carried out in conditions when there is a threat to the life and health of citizens.

As a reminder, within the framework of this public action, which is held in Russia and a number of countries of the near and far abroad, the participants walk in a column, holding banners with photographs of their veteran relatives.

“As much as we would like, but we will have to postpone the event to the next year. And we will do it widely, powerfully, deservedly, beautifully. The way we can do it and how we have always done it, ”the head of state explained.

The executive committee of the Immortal Regiment called the transfer of the action to 2021 the right decision.