Lawyers associate Alan Mamiev's case with practice of toughening prosecutions for fakes

After the verdict to North-Ossetian journalist Alan Mamiev, who was fined for a post about the coronavirus infection, lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted that the number of administrative cases on fake news has grown significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 16, in Vladikavkaz, a court found journalist Alan Mamiev guilty of spreading fake news about the coronavirus infection and fined him 30,000 roubles. Alan Mamiev considers the case to be politically motivated.

Stanislav Seleznyov, an advocate from the human rights group "Agora", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that in his report "Epidemic of Fakes", made public a month ago, he drew attention to the convenience of applying the law on prosecution for fake news as an instrument for political pressure.

"For the whole of 2019, there were only 13 administrative cases of fakes throughout the country. And almost 200 such cases were instituted during three months of the epidemic," the advocate noted.

In particular, according to Stanislav Seleznyov, not only an administrative but also a criminal case were instituted against Ossetian opposition blogger Vadim Cheldiev for his statements concerning the adequacy of the authorities' response to the coronavirus epidemic, and the blogger's arrest in Saint Petersburg triggered a protest in Vladikavkaz, which later resulted in the institution of a number of new criminal cases against him.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 20, 2020 at 04:10 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.