Moscow militia refuses to bring case against blogger Artemiy Lebedev

The blog of the web designer Artemiy Lebedev, known for his use of obscene lexicon, causes no harm to public morals. This was the conclusion of the OVD (Interior Division) of the Tver District of Moscow, having studied his LiveJournal and refused the initiative group "Volgogradskiy Proryv" (Volgograd Breakthrough) to open a criminal case against Lebedev for his use of abusive expressions in his blog.

A copy of the OVD's statement was published by Mr Lebedev in his blog. It notes that the website ww.livejournal.com is located on the American server and is outside jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

"It's not a mass medium, has no corresponding license and is not an official website of any official and registered mass medium in the territory of the Russian Federation; it is a free community, having the aim of giving the room for its users to express their ideas and emotions, and communicated among themselves; the publish their letters there under various pseudonyms (nicknames), i.e., it is user's personal Internet space or page," runs the document.

Meanwhile, certain quotes from the decision of the Tver District OVD of Moscow dispatch have already spread within the Russian blogosphere. Internet users are convinced that this is a precedent, by means of which "we can resist attempts to restrict the freedom of speech not only of bloggers but also all the freedom-loving citizens of Russia."