Dispatches: The Crime of Speaking Up in Russia
A left-wing political activist has been convicted of inciting separatism and extremist activities, the latest in a series of criminal prosecutions in Russia against people who dare speak their minds online.
Unless the December 21 ruling by a court in Krasnodar in southern Russia is quashed on appeal, the accused, Darya Polyudova, 26, will spend the next two years behind bars. The charges against her derived from three posts she published on her page in VKontakte (VK), Russia’s most popular social network.
All three posts had to do with Ukraine. The one that triggered the incitement to separatism charge – in Russian …read more
Source: Human Rights Watch
