Russian blogger Anton Nosik charged with extremism
Well-known Russian media manager, journalist and public figure, Anton Nosik, was indicted for "inciting hatred or hostility, resulting in the humiliation of human dignity" on Tuesday, April 26, in Moscow. He was released on his own recognizance and ordered not to leave the country, reports Interfax.
According to investigators, on October 1, 2015, Nosik, "using his personal computer posted on a blogging platforms, with the aim of arousing hatred and hostility towards a group of people on a national basis and wrote an article calling to ‘wipe Syria off the face of the earth,’” as reported by Yulia Ivanova, the official representative of the Chief Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Moscow, who specified that the subsequent expert examination had confirmed Nosik’s culpability.
Sergey Badamshin, a lawyer whose services were provided to Nosik by the Open Russia project, has specified that the results of the third examination conducted by the Volgograd laboratory show that "linguistic signs of arousing hostility towards the Syrians, discriminated by national and territorial indicator" were found in Nosik’s text. The third examination was appointed because the conclusions of the previous two contradicted each other. "The second examination has shown that he, with a characteristic manner of using abusive language, supports the actions of the Russian Air Force and there was no evidence of extremism at all," said the lawyer. According to him, his client doesn't feel that he has committed a crime and calls himself a patriot of Russia and Israel.
On February 16, it was reported that a criminal case against the blogger was opened.