The lawyer of the Russian deputy defense minister accused of corruption brought all of the defendant's awards to the court hearing
PictureYour honor, I can't possibly have robbed this bank. I never leave my house. I'm a gamer. Look at all my achievements!
That defence kinda makes more sense
Yeah, No real gamer with that many achievements knows what "outside" is.
Outside? What’s next? Touching grass? Get out of here
Get... what?
Out of here. I assume it's a new video game but I can't find any release info about it.
Can’t wait for it to release! I heard it’s on beta rn! Not much is written about the game on wiki tho, I heard the main character is Kazuma Kiryu!
Well that's kind of a prerequisite for touching grass isn't it?
No. Just plant grass in a flower pot and keep it at your desk.
Gross
I mean Drake is using that defence to say he's too famous to be a pedo so....
“How can I be a liar if in fact my pants are not currently on fire”
Open and shut case, boys.
If the gamer 24/7 sit, you must acquit!
All achievements comes from Payday 1, 2 and 3!
I think the idea behind it is to remind all other lawyers and judicial staff, that no matter how much you are awarded to help the system or for actually achievements, you can get fucked (deserved or not) in a blink of an eye. Once you are accused, you likely are found guilty
He's the lawyer of the defendant, not the prosecutor.
Yes, the message is that his client was considered fine and great until now he wasn't. The charges now aren't the result of pure and independent criminal investigation.
Getting that many "awards" in Russia means you are deep in the system of corruption. I suspect this is more of a "look how well connected my guy is..." rather then anything else. Any judge is going to be fully aware of how awards work in Russia.
"Lawyer"
Also "prosecutor".
We're just witnessing the more humane variant of 'you're fired!'.
It's either that or a nice tea time close to an open window.
May putin tries trump's way for a change
Doesn't matter. The guy is going to divide anyway, by shooting himself in the back six times, then jumping out of a window.
I’ve got steam achievements more valuable than that.
Yeah you know he used SAM for these
C'mon. Steam awards at least mean you really did something
“ awards “
I'm sorry, I completely forgot about the quotation marks
Air bunnies
"court hearing"
"lawyer"
“Court”
Autocracy participation trophies.
Yeah, more like rewards for all the corrupt activities... whose side is this lawyer on?
'Your Honor, He got this award for "helping" glorious leader with a shipment of his favorite caviar through the port.
He got this one for "witnessing" traitor to our great nation fall out of a window.
He got this one for helping inspectors "find" their "missing" Fifty thousand dollars. They left it in their off shore bank account that they "forgot" existed.'
Because as we all know, high-ranking military folks in autocracies really have to work for medals and awards.
Only poor Lukashenko is still waiting for Putin to make him a colonel.
He will be promoted once he’s in the ground
You mean putin or batka in the ground? :D
Also Putin promised to make him a colonel of the Red Army, not just a colonel in his own forces. Dude implyed that Bielorrússia would get anexed by Russia in order for that to happen.
You really need to be really desperate for approval to sell out your own country independence for a commission as an officer in the Russian Armed Forces
He isn’t implying it, it was the original goal of the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
And Lukashenko thought he could become President of it.
He wanted to be president of Russia back in the day.
Lukashenko
You should watch the BBC video to see how Lukashenko really is. He plays a clown but is quite smart.
He will be rewarded composthumously
Shoigu, the Defense Minister, has no military experience. He was a governor of Moscow who started wearing green military uniforms and eventually appointed by his dear friend Putin.
Literally dress for the job you want.
Ministers of Defence often aren't from the military, but politicians.
They are the civilian oversight of military force.
Yes, but in Shoigu's case, he wears a general's uniform, and got Putin to award him the rank of ''General of the Army,'' despite not being in the army.
These are my awards, Mother. From Army.
Which is why the don’t normally wear military uniforms…
I believe for my country, Canada, only 4 out of two dozen Minister of Defense in the last 50 years have any military experience. The current one was a police chief and the one before was a corporate lawyer/law professor.
And they walk around in a military uniform and have the honorary title of “generals”?
Shoigu has never been a governor of Moscow. He was a minister of EMERCOM and it’s you know kind of a military organization
And I absolutely LOVE that all his tunics are zip-up, athletic wear. He shoulda left the Adidas stripes on them, he would have garnered so much more respect—especially when squatting.
a bit unfair, he was Emergency Minister for years, which in Russia is like the head of paramilitary task force for natural disasters
i mean, with their tongues they sure do
Another funny thing is that the guy in question is a civilian official, he never served in the army and doesn't have a military rank.
True, the first thing that came to mind was the ridiculous amount of medals that North Korean generals wear.
He is right, you know. Would the autocracy dismiss these medals then they would ridicule themselves. We know it’s ridiculous and they know it’s ridiculous but they can’t say it in court, lol.
Right, but it's not like the prosecution can use "our motherland's military awards are worthless" as an argument.
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24d
Everywhere, military love awards everywhere. They are magpies.
Real militaries don't have people looking like Christmas trees without actual achievements.
You sure about that? There's the meme about the general who won ww2 having less medals than thr guy who lost Afghanistan.
"In Boliviguay, you get a medal for every bowel movement."
Also literally everyone around him is equally as corrupt as he is, he probably just stopped being useful
I guess in Russian law schools they don't teach that authority isn't evidence.
In Russia, authority is evidence…of guilt.
Why would they? In an authoritarian nationalistic state, that's a better defense than facts.
This picture makes fun of the Russian system, but that's a lawyer who understands where he is.
"My client is a very high ranking aparachik your honor. I want to make sure you understand what you are getting into. He has promoted people in several battalions and the FSB. Are you sure it is safe for you to condemn him?"
It's not like the prosecutor or the judges decided to arrest him for corruption because they somehow realized he's corrupt (everyone in Russia is corrupted in any government position), they got ordered to arrest him by Putin or someone in his inner circle, he's lucky he found a lawyer who wanted to defend him
If they are accusing him it's an order from higher ups so the judge doesn't have to sweat it
I mean, you have to provide SOME defence
I assume they just skip the guilt phase (on the assumption the fix is in) and jump straight to mitigation.
They teach it, but if you are good boy, you are gonna slip and fall on the knife 34 times, fall from window, and accidentally shoot yourself 5 times with weapon that is being used only by government
Right but why is Justin Trudeau defending him in court?
Why is Cassian Andor defending him in court?
Why is Richard Hammond defending him in court?
HAMMOND YOU BLITHERING IDIOT!!!
YOU'VE CRASHED INTO THE COURTS LORRY
He definitely looks like Diego Luna with a fake beard.
Right? Is this why season 2 isn't out yet?
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that
I thought the same thing
Is this the same reasoning, that "He must be innocent, because he is a good christian!"?
"This man isn't a pedophile, he is a man of god"
", too famous and not been arrested"
-Drake
Can't believe he stabbed that granny. He always said good morning in the elevator.
Yes. The technical term is "character evidence"
Of course, so that little minuscule mischief and goofing around with money is justified
Merit may be grounds for a reduced sentence, so why not try?
Cassian Andor doing covert operations.
Came here to find someone else who saw Diego Luna
It's either him or a clone
Wait what does this mean
"The deputy minister is not corrupt. Look at all the awards he got for his public service."
Oh damn! That’s some good news. I thought it was sarcasm. Can’t a person still be guilty even with many merits?
They are all guilty, it's a den of rats ready to kill and sell off each other. One rat is being eaten by the pack now.
In Russia, corruption is the only way up the career ladder, the FSB must have dirt on every minister in order to control him, a normal person will not be allowed, they will put him in jail even sooner.
Just really in case - it is sarcasm
The logic is a bit different in inherently corrupt autocracies such as Russia. The assumption is that all the people in any sort of position of power are corrupt. It's basically an implied job perk. The people who are put on trial for this are only those stupid enough to get caught, people who made some political enemies, or people who just take those bribes but don't deliver anything of value at all. If you assume that everybody is equally corrupt, then showing off awards and merits makes sense - you argument basically is: "the defendant is as corrupt as anyone, but look how much good he's doing regardless of that!".
As you say, when everyone is corrupt, the trials are always motivated by something other than the desire to root out corruption.
In this case, it is likely that this is intended as a warning to Shoigu, because this is his deputy. Not sure why that is necessary, however, unless it’s reprimand for poor performance.
What needs to be kept in mind is that in a corrupt country, also the people who are tasked with prosecuting corruption are corrupt themselves. They don't prosecute corruption out of some belief in moral principles, there's nearly always a political reason. It's a systemic issue that needs to be addressed on a cultural level. Many of those corrupt officials don't think they're even doing anything wrong. Many people who give bribes don't think they're doing anything wrong either, or that the person they're bribing is doing anything wrong by taking a bribe. It's a commonly understood status quo of "things always being done like this over here".
At these levels of power it's of course universally a game of politics. People in power don't get prosecuted, unless other people in power need it.
If anything, such an absurd amount of awards feels like corruption in and of itself; I'm not sure this has the intended effect.
I think there's a much subtler point. The deputy minister being prosecuted is an extremely powerful and influential person in the Russian corrupt elite. Its social contract, upheld by Putin's regime, allows for corruption in exchange for loyalty. In his view, he is being unfairly singled out. Everyone is stealing, but only he gets prosecuted.
So what he's inferring to other members of the elite: "Look, if I — a loyal member of the elite, as evidenced by all the medals — get convicted, you are also not safe. The social contract no longer holds". And if one part (freedom to steal) is no longer in effect, then the other part (loyalty to Putin) also comes under question.
The gamble is that Putin's regime will recognize this logic and save him from prosecution, or at least make the inevitable conviction lighter.
Yeh, I was thinking it's less about making any legal point and more about sending a message, and hoping putin's side cares about it.
This happens in other countries too ofc, and you can look for this pattern:
"it's totally unfair that they do this to me [hold me to justice moreso than other corrupt elites]. Soon they may come after anyone [other corrupt wealthy elite]. This judge and staff <names> are the actual corrupt ones [whistle for elites and loyal fans to put pressure on the particular figures of justice].
Machts nichts.
It means that he just needed better pay, not medals... just kidding he would have been corrupt anyway..
It could also mean: All I got for my service are these shitty medals because we don't get paid sht. Everybody knows these medals in russia are worthless basically a scam. You worked a lot at the end all you got is a shtty medal not money.
This reminds me of the north Korean generals. Why he not wearing the medals?
Once he's put on all the medals he has to take them off to go to bed.
Overly corrupt russian politicians have helped the anti-war cause more than 99% of so-called opposition
Arguably if russian wasn't so corrupt the invasion of Ukraine would never have happened and Russia would be a flourishing country
Arguably Ukraine could have been the greatest legit ally of Russia until 2014 or even after, but morons on the Russian side squandered that opportunity for the foreseeable future.
This is true at one point Ukraine would've been the conduit between Russia and the west. But again, the corruption prevents sane and rational decisions. Putin asks his people to look back into a (not so) glorious past rather than creating the idea of a promising future
The upside to a dysfunctional regime is that, though volatile and prone to bad decisions, they mostly commit to their bad ideas poorly due to their dysfunction.
I'm sure this will make a difference, not like this trial is just for show.
Considering that this is pretty much theater it might actually help.
Someone in Russia is corrupt?
Surprised pikachu face
The fact that the 2nd in charge of the Russian army, the guy who literally sets the budget for the army, is in jail. Is huge.
This is the guy who may be the 3rd.moat powerful person in Russia. So it it Putin cleaning house or is it Putin warning Shoigu? Or is it Putin losing control? And why? Why now?
His corruption is immaterial as everyone at that level is corrupt and Putin uses that corruption to control or remove.
How many are from his kindergarten years?!
Let's hope he wins: less money spent in their military defense, the best is for Ukraine.
The more dictatorship, the more medals their politicians has.
Awards for what? Who's giving their politicians awards and then wondering why they're arseholes?
Defending motherland from corrupt West/s
Defending motherland from corrupt West prosperity
Yeah, for some reason Russians love to do that. I remember going to an international school competition in Russia as a kid and most of the local participants filled half of their posters and stands with all the medals they had won in their lives - "won 3rd place in the jumping competition in the last year of kindergarten" and other shit like that.
And then the organisers decided that they were going to have a 3 hour long closing ceremony to give out medals to everybody, including the bus driver, the cook and themselves. Russia is a bizarre country.
won 3rd place in the jumping competition in the last year of kindergarten
I bet that is the one in the big brown box on the top of the pile in the photo.
including the bus driver, the cook and themselves
That sounds made-up, but there is a thing with students desiring awards. They're egged on to building a "portfolio", their resume, to take part in olympiads and other events and win and stuff. Some give legitimate boosts when they're applying for university, for example.
This is the most Donald Trump thing I've seen outside of America.
That was my first reaction too... It reminds me of his little stunt where he claimed he didn't have any business interests anymore by doing a press conference surrounded with a bunch of bound documents with empty pages... His political party ate that shit up!
These guys were Trumping before Trumps balls dropped. They're dictators mf! Whatwhat! airhorn
They've been outtrumping trump since before it was mainstream.
"This one he got for bombing hospital and school in Syria"
I thought this was David Mitchell doing Taskmaster
He look like Trudeau with beard and long hair lol
Little pieces of bling on one’s chest are quite the sources of pride and recognition in Russian society.
This works against his case lmao
Doesn't prove anything. We all know these rewards in the army are an intern "reach around" mastrubatuon game.
Me showing my steam achievements to the lads
Free this man, he did a lot for Ukraine 😁
Lol stupid defence of the stupid politician in the stupid country run by a stupid dictator...
That's a very cheap looking court for the trial of a deputy defense minister. Is the title accurate or is it the trial of some lower deputy chief from one of the military districts?
Reminds me of this picture about North Korean generals
It's wilder, NK have a tradition wearing medals earn by your ancestors.
You realize this is AI generated, right?
This picture predates generative AIs. Just good old Photoshop.
Well you know, it take a lot of hard work to keep 25 million people in complete and brutal poverty for generations.
The fuck you mean “reminds me of this picture”, that is AI generated trash you fool
waiting for kadyrov collection
If only he had brought something one could trust to prove his defendants innocence, maybe something like a panini sticker book or all the pokemon gym badges perhaps?
I also wonder what the hypothetical north korean version of this picture would've looked like.
These are my awards…from army
The seal is for marksmanship
They give'em out like candy
Thought for a second that the lawyer was Justin Trudeau
I mean if you know the game isn't about actual truth why not bring something completely irrelevant as well.
Actually, I feel convinced now that the guy is innocent. General Corruptovich should return to duty as soon as possible to cotninue to sabotage support the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
I have a similar ammount of military awards and medals too, from different countries and even different centuries. If I'm ever in court, can I bring them to defend myself too?
Granted, I did BUY most of them for my collection.
On a serious note, once you have been "awarded" so many, do they even mean anything to you anymore?
My goals:
- Get more awards than Brezhnev and Kim Il Sung - check
Does he normally keep them on his superyacht? 🚢
Did he bring the receipts?
So the lawyer is actually proving his corruption by showing the payoffs ?
Cassian Andor moonlighting as a Russian lawyer
Basically its a, you fuckers gave him all of these medals meaning you helped him with his corruption all this time. So if he is implicated, then you fuckers are gonna have to answer very uncomfortable questions about why these medals are given.
Cos a couple 100 awards doesnt scream corruption at all..
Yeah, not sure if this strategy works…
Ta Dont think he thought this through, or maybe the Russian court system is dumb who knows?
Are we gonna talk about how he looks like Paul Mccartney or we jus gonna Let it be?
Is this like the car covered in environmental stickers showing us how environmental the people are inside?
If you ever think your job is pointless, remember there exist russian lawyers
W LAWYER
HAHAHHA WHAT
The mad lad actually thinks this strengthens his case
this medal? this medal is for glorious ability's to fudge accounts for he betterment of polticiall allies. Very high award for mother russia
"Do you see all this? This are the results of self promotion and awards, prooving that he's corrupt..... Wait! What? I'm the defending lawyer...?! OK, this were awarded by someone working for Ukranie. They're the corrupt ones. And nazis!"
Justin Trudeau sure using his law degree after leaving politics.
I Russia it is not «innocent until proven guilty», it is «guilty until proven a swagger»
It's a nice display, but it's not going to dissuade any judge. Any high ranking person accused of this had their charges green-lit by an even more powerful person.... Almost certainly Putin.
I’m pretty sure the Russian court is aware that those medals are fluff, earned through his position, NOT his performance.
What is Cassian Andor doing there?
Nothing says you're not corrupt like all the awards they give you for doing 'stuff' for them!
Walking into a Russian courtroom probably has the same feeling as to when they take you to your cell for the first time and there’s a 450 lb man in there wearing lipstick….
The Russian lawyer looks like if gave an AI image generator the following prompt: "Russian Lawyer"
Paul McCartney's got receipts
Once had an interviewee do this during an interview, opened up his backpack and pulled out past awards. I was a young naive new leader and was like oh ok, he gave great answers this means extra cool things. Jerk ended up being once of the worst employees I have ever managed, learned a lesson about people who go WAYYY over the top in trying to prove their worth or credentials.
You sure that isn't Trudeau?
Communism is well known for awarding medals based on merit and not political reasons LOL Besides, the sheen number of those same-looking plaques tells you there is an inflation of award giving over there.
Presumably the communist culture of doling out awards didn't go away but Russia hasn't been communist since 1991.
Oh, my bad. Authoritarian dictatorship with a roster full of ex-commies. Yeah, that sounds more accurate.
Thats not fair, in Russia you get an award for each war crime.
To the window...
People in comments don't get it. These awards are brought for the sake of mitigating circumstances. The deputy defense minister is de-facto already sentenced, the evidence is ample. The only thing the lawyer might do to minimise a prison sentence is to bring some public achievements out to light.
Bro thinks he can swag it out showing his Steam achievements