Experts report on violations in Igor Stenin's case in Astrakhan

The procedure for bringing to responsibility Igor Stenin, the head of the movement "Russians of Astrakhan", for his post in a social network has not been fully completed. This opinion was expressed by the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". They have noted that the court ignored the violation of the requirements of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 21, the Soviet District Court of Astrakhan found Igor Stenin guilty of disseminating extremist materials and sentenced him to a fine of 1000 roubles. According to the case materials, Igor Stenin is charged with posting in 2012 on his page on the social network "VKontakte" the video "Orange Sun 14/88", recognized as extremist material.

On October 21, Igor Stenin asked the prosecutor whether there was a proof that the banned video and the video appearing in the administrative case are identical. The prosecutor has stated without providing evidence that "they are identical."

While considering the case against Igor Stenin, the court ought to establish the identity of the video posted on the defendant's page with the video recognized as extremist in July 2013. Besides, the court ought to find out whether Igor Stenin posted the video and that the video was posted after its inclusion in the list of extremist materials. This was stated by Candidate of Legal Sciences Damir Gainutdinov, a co-founder of the Association of Internet users.

Natalia Yudina, an expert of the information and analytical centre "Sova", believes that nationalists are being persecuted in connection with their opposition to the authorities.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.