Trial date set for Savva Terentyev

On March 31, 2008, the first meeting of the Syktyvkar city court was scheduled to consider the case of Savva Terentyev. The defense of the blogger accused of inciting hatred towards policemen insists on returning the case for further investigation.

At a press conference held on March 19 in Syktyvkar, Terentyev's lawyers stated that significant violations had been committed during the investigation. In particular, the socio-humanitarian examination, on the basis of which their client was charged, contains direct conclusions that Terentev's statement contains signs of a crime under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and the legal interpretation of the material in the examination is illegal. According to lawyer Vladislav Kosnyrev, "the investigation essentially ordered two historians, one philosopher and one philologist to interpret the law and draw conclusions that fall within the competence of the investigator, prosecutor or court."

In addition, according to the defense, Terentyev's statement itself is only an opinion, not a crime. It should not be read out of context, which was a discussion on the important topic of law enforcement abuse.

Sources

• Sokolov I. The defense of blogger Savva Terentyev insists on the return of the criminal case for pre-investigation // KomiOnline. 2008. March 19.