The debate between the parties in the case of the Ufa Gubernskaya bloggers has begun in Bashkiria

On May 30, 2012, it became known that the trial of five bloggers accused of participating in the creation of the Ufa Gubernskaya website recognized as extremist and violating several "extremist" articles of the Criminal Code is continuing in Bashkiria. On May 29, the debate of the parties on the case began in the Leninsky District Court of Ufa.

Remember, Nikolai Shvetsov, Sergey Orlov, Igor Kuchumov, Ildar Gabdrafikov and Konstantin Nesterov charged under Part 3 of Art. 282.1 (organization of an extremist community, committed by a person using his official position), Part 2 of Art. 280 (public calls for extremist activities made with using the media), Part 3 of Art. 212 (calls for violence), paras. "b", "in" part 2 of Art. 282 (inciting hatred committed by a person with using one's official position by an organized group) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

February 2011 year, the Leninsky District Court of Ufa returned the case to the prosecutor's office due to rough procedural violations in the indictment. However, in April 2011 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan overturned district court decision. In May 2012, the process resumed.

We are unknown texts of defendants in the case that would fall under the articles incriminated to them. The comments on the site were indeed often offensive and nationalistic character, but we do not believe that the editors of the site should carry criminal liability for the statements of readers. The accusation of creating extremist community implies that either the defendants themselves are guilty of extremist acts, or those who left comments are members of this community, which would be too broad an interpretation of Article 282.1.

Sources

• Ekaterina Nekrasova. Bashkiria, Ufagub: prosecutor accuses bloggers of folkhistory // Open Ufa. 2012. May 30.