Verdict for hunting "AniDag" festival triggers disputes in social networks

Akhmad Israpilov, the administrator of the Instagram community "Imamat of Dagestan", received a conditional imprisonment for calls to disrupt the anime festival in Makhachkala, the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported on September 11. Some social network users have treated the verdict as a good lesson, while others view the blogger as a "martyr for truth."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Akhmad Israpilov was detained in March after his calls for disrupting the anime festival and the concert of Egor Kreed in Makhachkala.

The court found Israpilov guilty under the article of "Public appeals for extremist activities"; he was sentenced to two years of conditional freedom deprivation, the Dagestani MIA reported on September 11 in its Instagram page.

Svetlana Anokhina, a Makhachkala activist, believes that the organizer of pressing the participants in the anime festival was not Israpilov. "He's just a kid. I'm not that sorry for him, I just understand that he is a pawn; completely different figures are behind him," Ms Anokhina wrote on September 10 in her Facebook page.

Commentators to the publication objected saying that there is no reason for pity. "They've correctly convicted him. The time will come, I hope, and his ideological inspirers will also be convicted," Natasha Bitten has noted.

On the page of the Dagestani MIA in the Instagram, polar opinions were expressed regarding the sentence. "They (punish) for the truth. Shame and disgrace!" wrote the user amv.meshalkin.

"It's high time to attract such Internet heroes! Let them respond for their words," the user alina_b_a__ has commented.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 12, 2019 at 03:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.