Russian blogger sentenced for “extremist” post

Chris Baldwin
Reuters
Monday, July 7, 2008

A Russian man who described local police as “scum” in an Internet posting was given a suspended jail sentence on Monday for extremism, prompting bloggers to warn of a crackdown on free speech online.

Savva Terentiev, a 28-year-old musician from Syktyvkar, 1,515 kilometres (940 miles) north of Moscow, wrote in a blog last year that the police force should be cleaned up by ceremonially burning officers twice a day in a town square.

Convicted on charges of “inciting hatred or enmity”, Terentiev was given a one-year suspended term on Monday, Russian news agencies reported.

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Free speech campaigners said the ruling could create a dangerous precedent for free speech on the Internet, a vibrant forum for political debate in a country where the mainstream traditional media is deferential to authority.

“This was an absolutely unjustified verdict,” Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the SOVA centre in Moscow, a non-governmental group that monitors extremism, told Reuters. “Savva for sure wrote a rude comment … but this verdict means it will be impossible to make rude comments about anybody.”

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4 Responses to “Russian blogger sentenced for “extremist” post”

1. Christopher Says:
   July 7th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

   Fuck the scumbag police. Fuck the scumbag police. Fuck the scumbag police. Fuck the scumbag police. Fuck the scumbag police.

2. ThePatriot Says:
   July 8th, 2008 at 8:15 am

   Hey, I like this Russian Guy.

3. Ultraviolet Says:
   July 8th, 2008 at 8:50 am

   Sounds like we sent some of our police to Russia but forgot the tasers. It will only be a matter of time before we face the same fate. The truth shall set you free.

4. bluefakes Says:
   January 7th, 2009 at 7:30 pm

   Don’t forget his “america” brothers!
   Keep posting!
   Ted