Internet commentator for Burinfo website convicted in Buryatia

On September 26, 2013, in Ulan-Ude (Buryatia), 28-year-old Zurtan Khaltarov was convicted for making xenophobic comments on the burinfo.org website.

The Oktyabrsky District Court of Ulan-Ude sentenced Khaltarov, whom the media dubbed an "Internet troll", under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting national hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity) to a punishment of 200 hours of compulsory work.

In addition, the convicted person must reimburse the costs of the defense counsel participating in the case by appointment of the investigating authorities.

Recall that at the beginning of 2012 the defendant under the pseudonym "Bullshit" left on the site "burinfo.org" some offensive xenophobic comments. Sometimes they touched one person - Sergei Orlov.   During the search, a computer was confiscated from Khaltarov, hard drives, other media. In the comments, linguistic experts saw " inciting hatred, enmity, and humiliation human on the basis of race and threat ."

The defendant claimed that everything was done as part of national trolling.

In total, four hearings were held in the case. The most intense was what took place with the participation of Zurtan Khaltarov and Sergei Orlov. There was almost a conflict between the men even before the start of the meeting because of the place on the bench. During the meetings, readers of the notorious site, acquaintances of Zurtan.

The commentator did not agree with the verdict and is going to challenge it. " My arguments were not considered by the court. I do not agree with the article that I was charged with ," he told the media. " A huge amount of public funds was wasted ," Zurtan Khaltarov noted.

Sources

• Ulan-Ude troll sentenced to compulsory work // Baikal Daily. 2013. September 26.