A criminal case has been opened in St. Petersburg regarding anti-Christian publications on social networks

The creator of the community "ANTI ENTEO | ANTI "GOD'S WILL" (18+)" was searched.

In August 2017, it became known that a criminal case was being investigated in St. Petersburg under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement of religious hatred) regarding the publication of anti-Christian materials on the social network VKontakte. The case was initiated on July 11, and on August 9, as part of it, a search was conducted at the residence of St. Petersburg resident Leonard Konwisher.

According to Konwisher, claims from law enforcement agencies were caused by three publications posted in 2015 in the community he created, “ANTI ENTEO | ANTI “GOD’S WILL” (18+).” The first post contains an image of a Roman soldier raping the crucified Jesus Christ and the song "Jesus Christ... Sodomised" by the Swedish band Marduk. This is probably the same picture thatwas banned in 2014 by the Oktyabrsky District Court of Ulan-Ude; A resident of Izhevsk was tried in 2015 for her publication with abusive comments.

The second publication consists of a collage of two identical-looking men copulating with the caption "Jesus fucking Christ" and the Biopsychosis song "Mother of All Humanity." The third post is a picture in which the silhouette of a man holding a knife in his hand, with the numbers 666 and an inverted cross on his chest, tramples the silhouette of a priest; Below the image is the anti-clerical song of the Karakurt group “Time to Burn Bridges.”

As for the first two posts, they can be called blasphemous; they can be perceived by believers as offensive, but blasphemy as such is not an illegal act, and it is difficult to see inciting calls for violence in them. From our point of view , the rights of those offended in such cases should be protected in administrative or civil law, and not in criminal law. The third publication endorses violence and therefore prosecution for its publication under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code cannot be called unreasonable. Overall, we cannot clearly consider this case to have been brought inappropriately.

Sources

• A resident of St. Petersburg is suspected of inciting hatred due to anti-Christian pictures // OVD-Info. 2017. August 18.