The Investigative Committee dropped the criminal case of extremism against Maria Motuznaya

The Investigative Committee dropped the criminal case against Barnaul student Maria Motuznaya, who was accused of extremism and injuring the feelings of believers (Articles 282 of the Criminal Code and 148 of the Criminal Code) due to publications on the Internet, TASS reports with reference to the regional department of the department.

“The legislation has changed, and therefore the criminal case against Maria Motuznaya has been discontinued,” the agency’s interlocutor said. Motuznaya previously wrote that the statute of limitations has already expired under Article 148.

Lawyer Alexey Bushmakov told Mediazona that he had not yet been notified of the termination of the case. Today, January 10, Motuznaya was excluded from the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists and terrorists.

A criminal case was opened against the girl in the spring of 2018 due to memes published on the VKontakte page. The trial of the case began in August last year, and Mediazona conducted online broadcasts. In October, the case was returned to the prosecutor's office, after which Motuznaya left Russia.

At the end of December 2018, President Vladimir Putin signed a law on the partial decriminalization of Article 282. Now criminal liability for inciting hatred or enmity on the Internet and the press comes only with a repeated violation within a year.