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The Elista city court found Batyr Boromangnaev, chairman of the Kalmyk branch of the Yabloko party, guilty of discrediting the authorities and insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin. The oppositionist who criticized the Russian state system will pay a fine of 30 thousand rubles, writes “Caucasus. Realities”.
Boromangnaev’s post, initially published back on September 22, 2018 on Facebook. “Putin’s Russia is a repressive, pseudo-democratic, kleptocratic, chauvinistic, illegal, estate, autocratic, overly centralized, imperial, practically fascist state,” the opposition politician wrote. He added that in Russia “the rights and freedoms of a person, citizens, social groups, local self-government, regions, peoples are not observed, totally violated.” According to him, “a group of people seized and illegally retains power in the country.”
On October 14, 2021, the oppositionist posted his old post in the Republic of Kalmykia (current state and development) group. The publication attracted the attention of Shanaev, an operative of the Center for Countering Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kalmykia, who saw in the published message “discrediting the current government of Russia.”
During the proceedings, Boromangnaev said that the phrase “Putin’s Russia” is a relative, not possessive adjective and denotes the period of Putin’s rule, but the court, following the CPE, considered that the phrase “refers to a specific person – the President of the Russian Federation, Putin.”
Federal judge Galina Nadbitova found the chairman of the republican branch of Yabloko guilty of an administrative offense. Batyr Boromangnaev was threatened with a fine of up to 100 thousand rubles, but the court sentenced him to the minimum punishment.
Boromangnaev intends to appeal this decision, however, the higher instance is likely to confirm the judgment. “Many cases against protesters and opposition representatives, which were considered in recent years by the Supreme Court of Kalmykia, have ended with the confirmation of the decisions and decisions of the city court of Elista,” he told The Insider.
Earlier, the oppositionist had already been prosecuted for criticism on social networks. On September 1, 2018, Boromangnaev published a post that, after a single picket against raising the retirement age, he was summoned to the police and an administrative protocol was drawn up.
According to the oppositionist, the police did so under pressure from the Elista administration and the republican department of the FSB. Getting acquainted with the materials of the case, he saw in the folder an official letter from the FSB to the leadership of the city department of the Internal Affairs Directorate, with which the department forced the police to initiate and investigate an administrative case against the activist. Subsequently, Boromangnaev petitioned to provide the case materials for review in order to photograph this letter, but the court did not provide such an opportunity a second time.
The oppositionist accompanied the accusations against the FSB and the administration with portraits of city manager Elista Okon Nokhashkiev and head of the republican FSB department Pavel Bulkin, signing them with the word “radish” referring to the Soviet comedy “Gentlemen of Fortune”.
The head of Elista considered himself insulted and sent a lawsuit to court. “The indication on the photo of the inscription” Radish “is offensive, because in addition to the well-known meaning … it is offensive, humiliates my honor, dignity, has a negative impact on my business reputation,” – said in the lawsuit, which quoted Radio Svoboda.
The official demanded to remove the note and collect 50 thousand rubles in his favor for disseminating defamatory information, and the same amount as compensation for moral damage for “violating the right to depict a citizen”.
The Elista City Court dismissed the claim, agreeing with the arguments of the defense. “I had to rummage in explanatory dictionaries, even read scientific treatises, to prove what any normal person seems obvious: the word“ radish ”cannot be offensive”, – told “Caucasian Knot” Boromangnaev’s lawyer Semyon Ateev.
He stressed that in his publication Boromangnaev did not accuse Nokhashkiev personally of pressure on the opposition. But even if it were different, “the citizen has the right to express his own opinion.” “Moreover, Nokhashkiev is an official. This means that a priori he agrees to be the object of criticism. In this regard, both the European Court and the Supreme Court of Russia explain that “criticism of the activities of persons performing public functions is permissible within wider limits than in relation to private persons,” emphasized Semyon Ateev.
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