Alexei Gorinov

Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gorinov (Алексе́й Алекса́ндрович Го́ринов; born June 26, 1961) is a Russian qualified lawyer and deputy of Moscow's Krasnoselsky District Council who was sentenced to seven years in prison for speaking out against a proposal to hold a children's dance and drawing competition despite the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It was the first court sentence in years under tough new laws introduced by Russia in the early days of the invasion.

Gorinov was the first convict who did not admit his guilt in protest against this invasion.

Gorinov was born on 26 July 1961 in Moscow.

He graduated from the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography in 1984, and the Kutafin Moscow State Law University in 2004.

From 1990 to 1993, Gorinov was a municipal deputy of the Dzerzhinsky district in Moscow.

Since 2017 he has been representing the Krasnoselskiy district as an independent deputy supported by the Solidarnost movement.

Gorinov is a member of the Solidarnost movement.

He was the CEO of ZAO Vinette Trading.

On 15 March 2022, soon after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, during the debates on a children's art competition at the fifth session of the Deputy Council of Krasnoselsky Municipal District, Gorinov made an antiwar statement:

“How can we talk about a children’s drawing contest for Children’s Day, or organizing dance recitals for Victory Day when there are children dying every day?” Gorinov asked his colleagues at the meeting.

“For your information, I will say that nearly 100 children have already died in Ukraine, and that every day, more children are being orphaned.

The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of World War II survivors have been thrown into the fire of these combat operations.

I believe that all of the efforts of our civil society should be directed exclusively at stopping the war and getting the Russian troops out of Ukraine.”

Gorinov declared that during the war with Ukraine such a competition would look like a “feast during the plague”.

He was supported by the head of the municipal district Yelena Kotyonochkina who was also prosecuted and has since left Russia.

During the session, Gorinov called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a war, not a “special military operation”, and said that children are dying in Ukraine.

On 4 March 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian armed forces and their operations.

On 26 April 2022, law enforcement officials arrested Gorinov and searched his home and the council building.

The criminal case investigation took 5 days from 26 April to 1 May.

The court hearing on Gorinov's case began in June in the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow.

The prosecutor requested to extend Gorinov's arrest to 6 months, and although Gorinov told the court he had tuberculosis and that he did not get appropriate medical care in the pre-trial detention centre, the judge accepted the request for the extension.

Some of the proceedings were heard in closed court.

The prosecution declared that the audience members and journalists could put “psychological pressure” on the prosecution's witnesses.

The prosecution claimed that Gorinov colluded with Kotyonochkina at the council meeting in order to “discredit” Russian soldiers.

Gorinov's defence claimed that Roskomnadzor’s requirement not to call the war a war only applies to the media.

No laws contain such requirements for individuals.

On 8 July 2022, judge Olesya Mendeleeva of the Meshchansky court sentenced Gorinov to seven years of imprisonment in a general-regime corrective colony.

The announced sentence was met with applause in support of Gorinov, after which his supporters were taken out of the courtroom.

During the court hearing, Gorinov openly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

“I believe that in the 20th century, Russia went beyond its limit on wars.

Yet our present is Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel.

Do these names mean anything to you?

To you, the prosecution!

Look them up and don’t say later that you didn’t know anything.

For five months Russia has been waging war and shamefully calling it a special military operation.

We have been promised victory and glory.

Then why does a considerable part of my compatriots feel shame and guilt?

Why has our country gained so many foes?

Perhaps there is something wrong with us?