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MOSCOW — A Russian faces up to a year in prison for saying "there is no God" during an argument on social media, his lawyers said Wednesday.
Viktor Krasnov also wrote the "Bible is a collection of Jewish fairy tales" during the discussion on European social networking site Vk.com in 2014, lawyer and human-rights activist Pavel Chikov posted on his Facebook page.
Krasnov, whose offending posts have been deleted, is on trial in his native city of Stavropol in southern Russia, according to the local magistrate's website. Charges were filed in the fall of 2015 and the trial began on Monday, according to his lawyer.
Russia's Investigative Committee — the equivalent of the FBI — charged Krasnov with "offending believers' feelings," which was criminalized in Russia after a notorious performance by punk band ***** Riot in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February 2012. Two band members were jailed in 2012 for performing an anti-Vladimir Putin song at the cathedral.
I would be arrested in Russia as I agree with his comments.
However, this was not merely someone expressing some statement, thus soliciting an arrest. This person was on a page dedicated for religious discussion, and basically challenging. trolling, or whatever you want to call it. If this guy did this in any other venue besides a religious one, no one would care too much (plenty of people openly blast away anti-religious stuff with no repercussions). Additionally, they blocked a forum for those who do not believe in god, so obviously this law is only for believers as stated.
There is no law against not believing and stating so, but there is a law about going into a church, forum, designated area, whatever has a group of people discussing religion and start blasting away with anti religious rhetoric. The law is stupidly broad, it was meant for churches, but obviously they get to apply it to whatever they feel.
The law was passed due to outrage over the idiotic band who went into a church and started disrupting things there. It would be generally called disorderly conduct, but many people wanted a harsher law for this type of thing.
Stupid law, stupid application of it.
I guess the good news it is not as severe of a punishment as someone in Saudi Arabia would get, not yet anyway.
However, this was not merely someone expressing some statement, thus soliciting an arrest. This person was on a page dedicated for religious discussion, and basically challenging. trolling, or whatever you want to call it. If this guy did this in any other venue besides a religious one, no one would care too much (plenty of people openly blast away anti-religious stuff with no repercussions). Additionally, they blocked a forum for those who do not believe in god, so obviously this law is only for believers as stated.
There is no law against not believing and stating so, but there is a law about going into a church, forum, designated area, whatever has a group of people discussing religion and start blasting away with anti religious rhetoric. The law is stupidly broad, it was meant for churches, but obviously they get to apply it to whatever they feel.
The law was passed due to outrage over the idiotic band who went into a church and started disrupting things there. It would be generally called disorderly conduct, but many people wanted a harsher law for this type of thing.
Stupid law, stupid application of it.
I guess the good news it is not as severe of a punishment as someone in Saudi Arabia would get, not yet anyway.
That's really scraping the bottom of the barrel for good news, but thank you for the important background information.
For decades, you could go to jail in Russia for saying there is a God, now you go to jail for saying there isn't. Just more proof of why our 1st amendment is so great and needs to be protected from the PC Nazis.
"offending believers' feelings", that is illegal? Hurting someone's feeling is illegal? Or is it because religion is involved. What's going on with Russia. It's not immoral & shouldn't be illegal neither; he is entitled to feel or say such.
For decades, you could go to jail in Russia for saying there is a God, now you go to jail for saying there isn't.
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