Sentenced for xenophobic comments on an article

In December 2013, in the Chelyabinsk region, Dmitry Zhikharev was convicted of xenophobic comments on the Internet.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Chelyabinsk Region announced that a verdict had been passed against 32-year-old local resident Dmitry Zhikharev, who was found guilty under Part 2 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activity), part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of the dignity of a person or a group of persons on the basis of gender, race, nationality).

The investigation and the court established that in 2013 Zhikharev posted comments “aimed at inciting hatred and enmity towards the peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia” under an article about a domestic conflict published on the Internet.

The court sentenced the commentator to a 2-year suspended prison sentence.

Sources

• In the Chelyabinsk region, a local resident was found guilty of committing extremist crimes // Official website of the UPC RF for the Chelyabinsk region. 2013. December 12.