Fine for publishing an article by Vila Mirzayanov

In October 2013, Radik Nurdinov, a resident of the Republic of Bashkortostan, was found guilty under s. 282 of the Criminal Code and fined for posting on the Internet an article by Vil Mirzayanov, recognized as extremist material.

On October 4, 2013, the Birsky District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan announced that it had found Radik Nurdinov guilty of Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting ethnic hatred) and sentenced him to a fine of more than 80 thousand rubles.

Nurdinov was accused of publishing on the Internet in March 2012 the article "Tatar National Idea and Ideology" by Vil Mirzayanov, included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials (p. 635), "containing a negative assessment of the Russian nationality and the activities of its individual representatives, and also appeals to grant privileges to certain groups of persons united along ethnic lines ."

The defendant pleaded not guilty.

The article "Tatar National Idea and Ideology" is written in an unconditionally separatist vein, contains sharp criticism of Russia's imperial policy, and also substantiates the need for gaining national independence. This material does not contain any calls for violent action. In our opinion, for a charge of committing a crime under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, this is clearly not enough.

On December 10, 2013, it became known that Nurdinov filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan, but the latter left the decision of the Birsky District Court unchanged. The verdict has entered into force.

Sources

• Birsk resident convicted of posting extremist material on the Internet // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bashkortostan. 2013. October 4th.
• The Supreme Court of the Republic upheld the verdict against a resident of the city of Birsk, who posted extremist material on his website // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bashkortostan. 2013. December 10.