As it became known to Kommersant, the Rostov-on-Don garrison military court is considering a criminal case against Colonel of the Russian Guard Valery Kotovich, who is accused of disseminating deliberately false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces. Colleagues of the colonel claim that he called the Russian military occupiers and aggressors. According to the recently introduced article on fakes in the Criminal Code, the colonel faces up to ten years in prison.
The trial in the case of Rosgvardia Colonel Valery Kotovich has been ongoing at the Rostov-on-Don Garrison Military Court since December 2022. At today’s meeting, the interrogation of two witnesses, the bosses of the defendant, took place.
From the data announced at the meeting, it follows that Valery Kotovich is from Ukraine. He graduated from the Kharkov Military Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and served in the internal troops of Ukraine in the Crimea. In 2014, he received Russian citizenship and entered the service of law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation. Since 2020, he has been serving in the Southern Center for Logistics of the Russian Guard (FKU “Southern CMTO of the Russian Guard”) as the head of the procurement department.
The head of the center Oleksiy Kustov and his deputy Eduard Glebov said that after the outbreak of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Valery Kotovich began conflicts with other employees.
According to the colleagues of the defendant Kotovich, because of the special operation that had begun, he quarreled with his brother and acquaintances living on the territory of Ukraine, so he was in a depressed state.
Several colleagues of the colonel told the authorities that he allegedly told them about the aggressive actions of the Russian Armed Forces on the territory of Ukraine, as a result of which the civilian population suffers, and so on. At the same time, both witnesses emphasized that they knew about the conflicts and the alleged position of Valery Kotovich only from the words of his subordinates, and the colonel himself did not say anything of the above.
Valery Kotovich, addressing the head of the center Alexei Kustov, noted that on February 27 (on a non-working day, Sunday) he received the first penalty for the entire time of his service. “What, does this have something to do with SVO?” — said the judge. “I believe that this is connected with the SVO, with a personal attitude towards me, which for a number of reasons began to change,” Valery Kotovich replied, promising to develop his thoughts during the interrogation.
The position of Valery Kotovich in the case is unknown, his defense refused to communicate with the media. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for February 6, where it is planned to continue the interrogation of witnesses.