Court does not cancel Kaluga programmer’s fine for posting an anti-war statement on an orthodox website

Programmer Alexander Ivanov posted an anti-war statement on an orthodox website, so the court fined him 45 thousand rubles. He did not agree with this verdict and decided to appeal it. The court refused to cancel Ivanov's fine. The programmer told 7x7 about this.

On February 25, programmer Alexander Ivanov published an anti-war statement on the Drevo website. One of the website’s visitors reported him to the police, having considered the text "deceitful, insulting to representatives of the church." The police drew up a protocol against Ivanov for discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

The court, having considered Ivanov’s case, appointed him a fine of 45 thousand rubles. The programmer disagreed with this decision and filed an appeal. Roskomsvoboda's lawyers helped him during the appeal, but Ivanov spoke at the trial himself. However, the judge did not agree with his arguments and on September 14, rejected the appeal, leaving the decision of the court of first instance unchanged.

Alexander Ivanov, a programmer from Kaluga, created the Drevo (‘tree’) Christian Internet Encyclopedia in 2005. There, he systematized information about the Orthodox doctrine and the history of the church, Orthodox shrines, monasteries, and famous figures. Ivanov calls the encyclopedia a "home project" and updates it almost alone. Every day, 3 thousand unique users visit Drevo’s website.

Until February 24, 2022, the programmer tried not to touch on sociopolitical topics in publications and adhered to the Moscow Patriarchate’s official position. Everything changed when the Russian Armed Forces entered the territory of Ukraine. Read the story of Alexander Ivanov here.

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