Cheboksary activist fined for slogan from Mount Athos

Cheboksary activist Alena Blinova was fined for reposting a message about the trials of oppositionist Semenov.

On April 13, 2017, Chuvash activist Alena (Elena) Blinova was fined one thousand rubles under Art. 20.29 Code of Administrative Offenses (distribution of extremist materials).

The reason was that Blinova reposted the opinion of Vitaly Milonov in the “Art preparation bad news” group on the social network “VKontakte” about the persecution of the coordinator of “Open Russia” in Chuvashia, Dmitry Semenov, for spreading the prohibited slogan “Orthodoxy or Death.”

Semenov himself was fined twice for publishing photographs of Vitaly Milonov, which contained a prohibited slogan, as well asfor reposting an information message about these punishments, which also contained a prohibited phrase. Another Chuvash activist Dmitry Pankov was fined only for reposting a message that hehad not previously been punished by the court for publishing a photo of Milonov with a banned slogan.

Blinova believes that she is being persecuted for her active civic position and participation in the environmental picket on March 26, 2017. After the event, Blinova was also required to resign from the kindergarten where she worked as a teacher, and when the activist refused, she was fired “under the article.”

The slogan “Orthodoxy or Death” was banned by the Cheryomushkinsky District Court in 2010 and included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials under number 865. It is popular among the aggressive part of representatives of some Orthodox organizations (for example, the Union of Orthodox Banner Bearers). But historically it belongs to one of the Athos monasteries and is interpreted not as a wish for death to non-Orthodox, but as a contrast between Orthodoxy and spiritual death: “either we will be Orthodox, or we will die spiritually.” The overwhelming majority of those who use this slogan in one way or another understand it this way, which is why we consider the ban unlawful. It is even more absurd to punish for any mention of any prohibited material, much less a slogan.

Sources

• In Cheboksary, a teacher fired after a rally was fined for taking a photo with Milonov // OVD-Info. 2017. April 13.