The journalist was fined under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for the article on the fine under Art. 20.3.1 Code of Administrative Offenses

The court fined Yaroslav Varenyk for quoting a xenophobic text in a news item.

On March 11, 2020, in Arkhangelsk, the Lomonosovsky District Court fined journalist Yaroslav Varenik 10,000 rubles under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (inciting hatred).

The reason for the administrative prosecution of Varenik was a news article that he published on the 29.ru portal in October 2019. The news was devoted to the fine imposed on the local resident Arseniy Kuroptev under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for reposting a text about "a secret conspiracy of Muslims to destroy Russians." The journalist quoted part of this post in the text of his note.

We consider the persecution of Varenik unlawful, because, most likely, in his actions there was no intent to incite national or religious hatred. Quoting xenophobic texts in journalistic publications to inform readers should not be equated with their dissemination for propaganda purposes.

against Varenik Recall that on October 25, 2019, an administrative case was initiated under Part 2 of Art. 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (desecration of objects of religious worship) for publishing a video clip for the song "Yekteniya 1" by the Polish black metal band Batushka on VKontakte. On December 30, it became known that the Arkhangelsk police had stopped persecuting the journalist. From our point of view, this administrative case was also unlawfully initiated.

On July 10, 2020, the Arkhangelsk Regional Court upheld the decision to punish Varenik under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Sources

• Arkhangelsk journalist was fined in the case of extremism because of the news about a local resident fined under the same article // MBKh-media. March 11, 2020
• Arkhangelsk journalist fined in case of extremism for news about extremism case // OVD-Info. March 11, 2020
• Arkhangelsk journalist fined 10,000 rubles under article on extremism for news about fine under article on extremism // Mediazone. March 11, 2020
• Case card No. 7p-218/2020 // Website of the Arkhangelsk Regional Court. 2020. July 21.