Rights defenders treat verdict to Kuban blogger as too severe

Valery Klimenchenko, a blogger from the Krasnodar Territory (aka as Kuban by the name of the main river), sentenced to four years in colony for justifying terrorism and publicly insulting a state official, deserves no real punishment, since he did not call for a repeated terror act, the human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 23, the Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Valery Klimenchenko to four years and one month in colony, finding him guilty of justifying terrorism and publicly insulting a state official. According to investigators and the court, on November 17, 2018, Klimenchenko posted in his VKontakte page some material justifying the terror act committed on October 31, 2018, in the reception room of the Russian FSB Branch in the Arkhangelsk Region.

Russian courts consider such cases with an accusatory bias; and any non-negative statement about the person who had committed a terror act is treated as approval and justification, which is completely incorrect, Sergey Davidis, a board member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Intent to call for the repetition of such actions is important. In my opinion, there was no such call in the words of the convicted Kuban blogger," Mr Davidis has emphasized.

Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of the "Sova" Information and Analytical Centre, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that about a dozen criminal cases have been opened in Russia for justifying terrorism after the above terror act in the Arkhangelsk FSB Branch. "The FSB is nervous about this situation; therefore, they closely follow any posts on this topic," he said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 25, 2020 at 00:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.