The Presnensky District Court of Moscow sentenced blogger Areg Shchepikhina to five years in a general regime penal colony on charges of insulting Muslims, reported a correspondent from the courtroom of «Mediazona»*. The prosecution requested six years of imprisonment for Shchepikhina.
The blogger was accused of insulting the feelings of believers, inciting extremism on the internet, and inciting hatred and enmity with the threat of violence.
The defendant fully admitted his guilt and asked for a punishment not related to imprisonment. «Please forgive me. I want to serve my punishment differently, but not sit in prison,» said Shchepikhina in his final statement. He also noted that the root cause of the criminal case was his desire to become the president of Russia and declare amnesty for everyone, as well as the fact that he reported «young cocaine addicts».
The reason for the criminal prosecution was videos published by Shchepikhina on social networks this summer, in which he, according to the investigation, insulted the religious feelings of Muslims. The prosecution insisted that «as an object of criminal encroachment» the man chose Islamic shrines, Allah, and the Quran.
Charges under extremist articles are related to a video in which Shchepikhina insulted «Chechens, Dagestanis, representatives of the peoples of the Caucasus, Jews, and Muslims».
At the beginning of the summer, Shchepikhina was kidnapped from Yaroslavsky Station in Moscow, a group of unknown individuals pushed him into the trunk of a car, later it turned out that these were Chechen security forces. However, the republic's authorities stated that Shchepikhina «was not kidnapped, but detained».
A criminal case was initiated against six of the man's kidnappers for abuse of power and kidnapping, but they were released on a promise not to leave. Shchepikhina himself was sent to a pre-trial detention center on charges of insulting Muslims.
According to RusNews, doctors diagnosed Shchepikhina with a mixed personality disorder but found him sane. The investigation took one and a half months and the blogger received a real sentence.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».
Photo: Mediazona