St. Petersburg's Moskovsky District Court fined Dmitry Khorzov, a former State Duma candidate from the Yabloko party, 30,000 rubles in an administrative case concerning alleged “discreditation” of Russia's military. The case stemmed from his election campaign slogan: “I am the only candidate for peace in District 218.”
Mediazona reported the ruling on October 27. Judge Darya Markova heard the case under Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of Russia's Code of Administrative Offenses. It was previously known that an administrative offense report had been drawn up against the politician, but no fine had yet been imposed at that point.
The slogan prompted a complaint during the campaign from Andrei Kazanin, a participant in the war in Ukraine. He considered the statement to be “discrediting” the armed forces and insulting to other candidates. The electoral commission did not ban the slogan, but the materials were referred to law enforcement agencies.
Mediazona found another unusual detail in the case file: the name “Kiseleva O. I.” appears at the end of one of the official reports. The published text does not establish why this happened; attributing the discrepancy to the reuse of another person's template without further evidence would be unjustified.
This is a first-instance ruling in an administrative case. No outcome of a possible appeal had been reported at the time of publication.