Father and advocate of Alexei Schus consider charge of fake news about Russian Army far-fetched

Alexei Schus, an engineer from Sochi, has deleted his posts on a social network that the law enforcement bodies considered dissemination of fake news about the Russian Army, and the weapon the man was accused of making was a modification of a slingshot, an advocate reports. Alexei Schus did not admit guilt, and his relatives believe he is not guilty, a father of the accused engineer emphasizes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in April, Alexei Schus became involved as a defendant in a criminal case on dissemination of fake news about the Russian Army because of his reposts on social media made more than two years ago. On August 16, investigators toughened the charges. Alexei Schus, who stayed under a written recognizance not to leave the city, was taken into custody.

Vasily Schus emphasizes that he is proud of his son because he is “a law-abiding and decent person, a wonderful family man, husband, father and son, a talented engineer.”

The father of Alexei Schus notes that an investigator offered his son to close the criminal case if he agreed to sign a contract for military service and leave for the special military operation (SMO). “My son has refused,” Vasily Schus stated.

Maria Spasibukhova, an advocate of Alexei Schus, explains that her client is charged specifically with the reposts on the social media. These are photographs and videos taken from the Internet, with his comments on the “VKontakte” social network. When Alexei Schus received claims, he deleted all of those posts.

As for the “throwing weapon,” it is made like a slingshot for shooting metal balls by pulling the bowstring. “It is unlikely that it is possible to kill a person with such a ‘weapon.’ He made it himself, it is his personal engineering invention, which he was proud of and kept at home. Perhaps, he invented it for self-defence purposes,” advocate Maria Spasibukhova stated.