
Nikolai Gorelov. Photo from a personal page on Facebook
After partial decriminalization of the 282nd article, the operatives of the Kaliningrad Center “E” do not give up. First, they found in the rehabilitation of Nazism and insulting the feelings of believers published by Blogger Nikolai Gorelov. When the UK refused to initiate the case due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, the investigators found a text with fictional monologues about Stalin and the Red Army-in the end, a criminal case on the rehabilitation of Nazism still appeared (part 3 of article 354.1 of the Criminal Code).
On October 28, 2019, the Kaliningrad blogger Nikolai Gorelov and his friend went to the store when two men in civilian clothes stopped on the street. According to Gorelov, one of them introduced himself as police captain Artem Gromov and proposed to follow the department. Gorelov decided that we were talking about some kind of robbery, in the investigation of which he could help. “I was still poorly understood my rights, how it all works - and agreed,” Gorelov recalls.
Along the way, the policeman was extremely polite and even clarified where to take him after the “conversation”, says the blogger. He suspected something only in the corridor of the department, noticing there the doors with the tablets "Center for Combating Extremism." So Gorelov found out that Artem Gromov, the operative of the ED center, wanted to talk not about robbery at all.
Already in the office to the captain, Gorelov says, his colleague joined, who, without introducing himself, began to tell that in the posts of a blogger in social networks there are signs of insulting the feelings of believers, rehabilitation of Nazism and discrediting the holiday on February 23. "
Gorelov was allowed to call a lawyer, after which he refused to answer the questions of the police, citing article 51 of the Constitution. The operative replied that in this case the Blogger would be engaged in the Investigative Committee.
Nikolai Gorelov is 34 years old, he wrote to the media film facilities, led a blog on the website of Echo of Moscow, and in social networks he spoke more than once on socio-political topics. He leads accounts on Facebook and Vkontakte on behalf of Nikolai Kirichenko.
The blogger says that back in January 2019, a man called him, who introduced himself as a district police officer who began to talk rudely about "the garbage that he wrote in social networks." Gorelov did not attach any value to that call, suggesting that it was some kind of draw.
A month after the first conversation, on November 20, the operatives of the EE center again tracked Gorelov on the street: “When I left the house, a car drove up immediately, two operatives came out of it, who forced me to sign the agenda to the Investigative Committee.” He asked to bring the agenda at the place of residence, but the police, according to Gorelov, said that since he had no passport with him, then he would be delivered to the police department for “personality clarification” for three hours.
Judging by the materials of the audit, which was carried out in November, the SK on the report of the police, the operatives of the E -E center suspected Nikolai Gorelov - the rehabilitation of Nazism and disrespect for the feelings of believers.
The reason for the verification was the picture in VKontakte with the inscriptions “I remember”, “Victims of the Red Army, East Prussia, 1944” And the text accompanying them: “I feel unworthy of memory of the great Didoff” and “Let's go about the reason.” The drawing with the Order, which, as stated in the case file, was the “image of the symbol of the Banner of Victory in the form of a rainbow flag of the LGBT community” with “sarcastic, sarcastic inscriptions”, also seemed suspicious operatives of the EE center. Gorelov does not deny that he posted both of these posts - he first made them on May 9, 2014, and then duplicated them three years later.
Experts who examined these pictures came to the conclusion that they demonstrate a contemptuous attitude towards Victory Day, ridicule him and “contradict respect for the days and symbols of the military glory of Russia”.
The disrespect for the feelings of believers “E” noticed in two posts dedicated to Easter and Patriarch Kirill. In the first there were pictures with signatures: “Rousing Christ sucked a pussy”, “Congratulations on Easter for all your friends, let them show off a pussy.” In the second - an image with the inscription "Favorite Patriarch" and the text "Several suddenly suitable tracks about Gundyaev, accidentally found in VKontakte." The Patriarch himself, said in the case file, was depicted in the form of a “subject of sexual games” (which one is not mentioned in the document).
In this case, experts came to the conclusion that the publications contain “linguistic and psychological signs of the feelings of believers (Orthodox Christians)”, and the use of Easter greeting with the mention of Jesus Christ, in their opinion, “sharply contradicts the respectful attitude to the sacred figure of the patriarch and the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ”. Subsequently, Gorelov removed all the posts.
A few days after receiving the agenda, he, along with lawyer Maria Bonzler, came to the Investigative Committee and again refused to testify using the 51st article of the Constitution.
As a result, the Investigative Committee decided that Gorelov’s wine was proved on both articles, but on December 9 they still issued a decision to refuse to institute criminal proceedings due to the expiration of the statute of limitations-it is two years under these articles.
Despite the refusal to initiate the case, the blogger was again called to the Investigative Committee. On January 4, Gorelov wrote on Facebook that they still decided to institute criminal proceedings: “The reason is a satirical literary work on the topic 2 world war. Welcome back during the time of samizdat and manuscripts that are hidden in case of search. ”
On January 8, the Investigative Committee nevertheless opened a criminal case against the blogger about the public dissemination of information about the days of military glory and commemorative dates of Russia, related to the defense of the Fatherland, expressing a clear disrespect for society (part 3 of article 354.1 of the Criminal Code).
The reason for the criminal case under such a rare article of the Criminal Code, says Nikolai Gorelov, was the literary text written by him in 2014-2015-and published on May 9, 2018. “There were raised all kinds of topics that are impartial from the point of view of our state, including about violence against the civilian population by the Red Army,” the blogger explains. “Probably, [after refusing in the first criminal case] there was some kind of decision from above, and pulled out an article on which the deadline did not come out [prosecution].”
Now the post is deleted, its copy is at the disposal of the "mediazones". These are several fictional monologues-for example, on behalf of a milkmaid from North Korea, a pensioner from Smolensk, a plumber from China, stolen by the special services of North Korea, Japanese, Joseph Stalin (from the dining room of the dull Roger in the nine circle of hell) and Adolf Hitler (from the brewer's brewer-bearing Bar "Bar. Seventh Circle of Hell).
“The fact that the Red Army defended the Stalinist regime in all its wretchedness and inability to any creation guarantees that the Russians have nothing to be proud of, and so it will remain for a long time; And, therefore, the victory over me will still know how much to remain the only thing that Russians give at least some sense of significance, ”Hitler broadcasts, for example,.
Sexual violence by the Red Army, for example, is said in a story on behalf of a pensioner from Berlin. And the fictional Russian pensioner in his monologue thanks the Red Army men for “that they strengthened the Stalinist regime and made his fall almost impossible”, and then talks about his father, who was repressed by Stalin.
The decision to initiate the case says that Gorelov’s post was viewed 685 times. The SK believes that this text with monologues contains information “expressing a clear disrespect for society, about the days of military glory and commemorative dates related to the protection of the Fatherland.”

“By the end of the year, the stick system needs to be worked out somehow,” Gorelov says about the possible reasons for his criminal prosecution. He assumes that the police, initiating the case, could thus “curry up” on the eve of the anniversary of the Victory: “They say, see what dangerous extremist they caught.”
Gorelova’s lawyer Maria Bonzler notes that bringing to criminal liability for literary text is a rather strange practice: “This is a work of art, his heroes say there. This cannot be considered some kind of belief or insult. ” Bonzler believes that if the case comes to court, then they will think about the possibility of asking for a jury - the article presented to the blogger leaves such an opportunity.
Editor: Yegor Skovoroda