Dmitry Demushkin

On 3 May, the State Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a case under the article on the activity of an extremist organisation (part 1 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, Demushkin organised the activities of the banned "Slavic Union" under the guise of a new organisation "Slavic Force". On 22 October 2011 Demushkin was charged under Part 2 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement to hatred or enmity) and Part 3 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code (calls for mass riots). The reason for this was Demushkin's interview with journalists, in which he, according to the prosecution, expressed ideas about the superiority of the Russian nation and called for riots. Demushkin himself said that in an interview with the Novy Region agency he had said that if the authorities did not agree to the Russian March, it would be "a massacre, breaking through the cordon, mass scuffles". Later, two new articles were excluded from the charge when the final charge was filed. On 17 March, the court found Demushkin guilty of organising the activities of a banned organisation, imposed a fine of 200,000 roubles and released him from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. On 9 December 2015, shortly after the banning of the ethno-political association "Russkie", one of the leaders of which Demushkin was, a new criminal case was opened against him under Part 1 Article 282 of the Criminal Code because he posted a photo of a banner from the "Russian March" with the slogan "For Russia - Russian power" on the social network "VKontakte". As a measure of restraint personal recognizance was chosen. In April 2016, the case was referred to the court, but in June the court returned it to the prosecutor's office. In October 2016, after Demushkin filed a notice to hold a "Russian March", he was detained and then placed under house arrest. The investigation motivated this by the fact that the accused travelled to Astrakhan, thus violating the conditions of personal recognizance. Demushkin himself said that the trip was agreed with the investigator. Later, another picture allegedly posted by Demushkin on the Internet was added to the charges - it shows a child hanging on clothespins and the inscription: "Only pure white children and adults". In February 2017, the case went back to court,and was considered in closed session. On 25 April 2017, Demushkin was sentenced to two and a half years in a general regime colony and taken into custody in the courtroom. On 17 July, the Moscow City Court upheld the sentence. Demushkin was sent to the Vladimir region, to IK-2 in the city of Pokrov, to serve his sentence. He was released early on 20 February 2019.