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.<\/p>\n
"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.<\/p>\n
"It's under article 282 of the Criminal Code for inciting hatred," which can be punished with a large fine or prison, Knyazev said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He was charged under new Russian laws against hate speech on the Internet.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Human rights organisations have regularly criticised police for abuses.<\/p>\n
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."<\/p>\n
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