Advocate finds violation of law in threats concerning festival of colours in Makhachkala

Criminal proceedings for public calls for extremist activity may be initiated on the facts of threats voiced in social networks against participants of the Holi, a festival of colours, in Makhachkala. This opinion was expressed by Djamal Aliev, an advocate of the Dagestani Bar Association.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the festival of colours originating from Hindu tradition and to be held at the site of the "Cinema Hall" cinema was cancelled after protests voiced by residents of Dagestan.

Apart from the criticism of the festival for corruption of youth, threats were voiced against the people who were going to attend the event. One of the social network users wrote: ""Where will it take place? I want to send a suicide bomber there." "I hope all of you will be blown up there," states another user in his comments.

According to Djamal Aliev, the Article of the Criminal Code distinguishes ordinary public appeals and appeals in the media and on the Internet. Meanwhile, a call for extremism in social networks may result in the punishment of up to 5 years of imprisonment.

It should be noted that one of the requests with appeals not to attend the festival was disseminated on Facebook by Mikail Mikailov, the chief of the department of preventive programmes and projects of the Ministry for Youth Affairs of Dagestan.

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