Ruslan Sokolovsky's sentence was commuted

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court reduced the punishment for blogger Ruslan Sokolovsky, who was found guilty of insulting the feelings of believers and inciting hatred. The final version of the sentence is two years and three months suspended, reports TASS . The court of first instance had earlier sentenced Sokolovsky to three and a half years of probation.

The Court of Appeal ruled out Art. 138.1 of the Criminal Code (illegal circulation of special technical means intended for secretly obtaining information). This article was added to the file after a pen with a video camera was found at Sokolovsky's during a search.

Otherwise, the sentence remained unchanged: in addition to a suspended sentence, Sokolovsky was ordered to remove all videos that were regarded as offensive, and was also banned from attending mass events. In filing an appeal, Sokolovsky first of all demanded that this punishment be cancelled. The blogger, who was prosecuted for caustic videos about religion and believers, intends to file a complaint with the ECHR, TASS reports.