MOSCOW, 27 Jun – RIA Novosti. Russia’s investigative Committee opened a criminal case in connection with the dismantling of the monument to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague on existing at the time of committing the act the article, said the official representative of Department Svetlana Petrenko.
According to her, several media outlets wrote that the UK has described the incident at the new article of the criminal code, which provides for liability for damage to or destruction of military monuments, which came into force in April 2020, ostensibly applying the retroactive effect of the criminal law.
“However, the opinion on qualification of the incident is incorrect. The investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case in connection with the demolition of the monument according to article 354.1 of the Penal code, which criminalizes rehabilitation of Nazism by the public desecration of symbols of military glory of Russia”, – said Petrenko.
She recalled that this article of the criminal code valid from 2014, so in this case no question of retroactivity of the criminal law, as well as about the illegality of the decision, can not be.
Authorities of the district Prague 6, implementing its decision of September 12, 2019, dismantled 3 April, the monument to Soviet Marshal Konev, which was installed in the area. According to the initiator of the demolition of the monument, warden (head) of district 36-year-old ondřej Kolář, the monument was transferred to the Museum memory of the twentieth century.
