In Saratov, Center “E” initiated a check of the journalist’s secret record

The Saratov Center "E" initiated a check of the publication for friends on Facebook by the journalist of "Public Opinion" Sergei Vilkov.

“Now the expert makes a conclusion. What the expert gives me will be. The decision will be made by the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Saratov Region. According to this publication, material is already being collected for the presence of signs of a crime under Art. 148 of the Criminal Code “Violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion”,” Sergey Panteev, head of the local Center “E”, told the Vzglyad-info correspondent.

The picture being checked contains an image of the Mother of God stylized as an icon with a covered face and a symbol of anarchy. She is holding a bottle, probably a Molotov cocktail. The post was posted on social media for friends only.

Sergey Vilkov himself connects the check with the campaign of persecution of the Saratov publication "Public Opinion", in which he works, and him personally.

“I won’t comment now whether there was such a post on my page, and it doesn’t matter. The resonance comes from the head of the information department of the Saratov diocese, hegumen Nektariy, who on May 3 posted on his Facebook page a picture where a figure resembling the Mother of God is depicted in a mask with an anarchy icon. That is, apparently, even believing that the image can offend someone, he considers it possible to publish it at home. This is a screenshot, which, according to him, was taken from my page, despite the fact that Nektariy and I are not friends, but the screenshot itself shows that the audience of the post is limited to friends. At the same time, the abbot himself wrote that there is no such publication on my page at the moment, but calls on the Orthodox to contact law enforcement agencies. It is known that hegumen Nektariy is extremely close to the deputy of the Saratov Regional Duma Sergey Kurikhin - together they established several foundations. This deputy has been campaigning for the second year to put pressure on me personally and our media group, as we believe, in response to the investigation of his activities,” Vilkov told Mediazone.