Russian blogger faces prison
A Russian blogger faces up to two years in prison for insulting the police on the Internet in the first case of its kind in Russia, a spokesman for local prosecutors told AFP today.
"The case was sent for trial today," said Yury Knyazev, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in the province of Komi in the far north of Russia.
"It's under article 282 of the Criminal Code for inciting hatred," which can be punished with a large fine or prison, Knyazev said.
Savva Terentyev, a local musician, said he hated the police and called for officers to be burned alive in a comment left on an Internet blog last year, according to an official copy of his charges published on the Internet.
He was charged under new Russian laws against hate speech on the Internet.
Terentyev, who is out on bail awaiting trial, has become something of a cause celebrity on Russian Internet forums, with numerous expressions of support from fellow bloggers appear on his own blog terentyev.livejournal.com.
Human rights organisations have regularly criticised police for abuses.
Terentyev has denied his guilt and told Echo of Moscow radio today that he would appeal against any court decision against him, saying: "I can't hope to have the fairest trial in the world."
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