Cheboksary lawyer fined for illustration with swastika

Yuri Ivanov published a link to an article from the Orthodoxy and Peace website, which was accompanied by an image of Hitler in uniform.

On February 9, 2018, the Moscow District Court of Cheboksary fined lawyer Yuri Ivanov 1 thousand rubles under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 Code of Administrative Offenses (public display of Nazi symbols).

The reason was a link to the article “World War II. The first salvos” from the website “Orthodoxy and Peace,” which Ivanov posted on his page on the social network “VKontakte” on September 1, 2014, accompanied by his own comment. When the link was published, the illustrations were automatically copied, including an image of Hitler in uniform.

From our point of view, Ivanov was brought to justice wrongfully, since the article he republished had nothing to do with the propaganda of Nazism. However, current Russian legislation allows punishing any public display of Nazi symbols without taking into account the context, which leads to groundless prosecution of citizens under Art. 20.3 Code of Administrative Offences. The attention of law enforcement agencies to Ivanov’s page is apparently explained by his activities in providing legal assistance to opposition activists in Chuvashia.

Sources

• In Cheboksary, a lawyer was fined for reposting a photo of Hitler from the website “Orthodoxy and Peace” // Rosbalt. 2018. February 9.