The case of blogger Alexander Serebryanikov in the Arctic capital is perhaps the most discussed and much publicized one. As a rule, all discussions are reduced to an apathetic wave of hand and phrases like "ended up in a bad way" and "his own fault — he shouldn’t go into politics".
On June 20, 2013 a founder of the site Bloger51 Serebryanikov Alexander became a defendant in a criminal case under part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement of hatred or enmity). However, in the early summer blogger was just a witness. The situation changed on August 15, when he was officially accused under the above article. Later, the court granted a petition of the investigation and appointed him a measure of restraint by way of recognizance not to leave.
According to lawyers of Serebryanikov, the reason for the institution of proceedings was his post on March 5 about the murder of ex-head of the Moscow representative office of the Murmansk region Adil Nazim ogly Mahmudov. The blogger explained the appearance of this publication: hackers cracked his website and added a paragraph with a nationalistic implication.
Social activists also believe that a significant role in the initiation of a criminal case played the fact that a lot of publications that appear on the site criticize the government. Konstantin Glavatskih, a chairman of the Murmansk regional public organization "Open City" writes:
"The materials posted on the site, not only written by Alexander, often have another, different from the official, point of view on events of the region, on the authorities’ activities at all levels; they talk about the infringement of human rights of ordinary citizens, the double standards of the authorities. It’s interesting that the Department for Countering Extremism, effectively monitoring the site «Bloger51.com», didn’t express a single comment to the content in the period of the alleged offense. None of the authorized government body preliminarily contacted Alexander requiring to remove the illegal content, and the complaint was immediately handed over to the investigating authorities for initiation of proceedings, which Alexander learned about only in mid-May."
Up to a certain time investigators didn’t remember about Serebryanikov. In December a "repressive machine" began to work again. Murmansk blogger was pointed at the psychiatric examination. Doctors should determine whether Alexander Serebryanikov suffers from any chronic or temporary psychiatric disorder, or liable to "extreme emotional disturbance". He refused to visit a hospital.
On December 5, the apartment of Alexander Serebryanikov was searched by investigators. The same procedure on the same day was held in the apartment of his parents in Apatity. Investigators seized a telephone, computer, printer, bank cards, some books. According to Russian media reports, during the search the attention of law enforcement was attracted to Pelevin’s book and edition of "Chronicle of a dive governor" autographed by the ex-governor of the Murmansk region Yuriy Evdokimov. According to the lawyer of the accused, the people who conducted the search confiscated mostly the publications about the Great Patriotic War. But investigators explained their interest to books: in the apartment further evidence of his guilt can be found, i.e. extremist publications. From parents’ apartment in Apatity the old computer and books were seized.
About the actions of law enforcement officials also told a happenstance witness — girlfriend of Serebryanikov, who was at that time in the apartment. At first they didn’t let her out of the room to go to work, and then took her cell phone, despite the fact that she is not under investigation and shouldn’t be searched! The lawyer also mentioned it and suggested that all these contradictory actions of the investigator were directed not to the establishment of truth but to find a basis for the accusation, up to adherence to the ideas of fascism. The lawyer noted a number of violations by investigators; for example, Alexander was not allowed to copy the information of his computer. There, by the way, was the electronic version of his criminal case.
It gets worse and worse as it goes on. On December 11, a press conference was held in the regional Duma, attended by delegates of all three opposition parties: "CPRF", "Just Russia" and "LDPR". At the meeting with journalists parliamentarians of the Murmansk Regional Duma made an important statement about "the intention to send an inquiry of deputy to the prosecutor's office demanding an investigation of actions of investigation department and investigator Yevgeny Ambartsumyan, who conducts a criminal case against Alexander Serebryanikova". In the evening law enforcement officials also responded to this statement. On the website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Murmansk region there was a statement that Serebryanikov is a follower of the theory of racial superiority. "The investigation also has evidence that Serebryanikov have been patterned himself on the Nazi Leader of Germany for many years, which manifested in wearing the regimental uniform and demonstration of the specific gesture of welcome typical for military units of SS in Nazi Germany during the Second World War".
After a couple of days, apparently pulled himself up, the blogger posted that particular photo —he, according to investigators, is in the Nazi uniform. You can make conclusions yourself:
It remains to add that all these contradictory events are happening in the solemn days — the 20th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Obviously, everyone just forgot the basic constitutional principle enshrined in Article 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: "Man, his rights and freedoms shall be the supreme value. It shall be a duty of the state to recognize, respect and protect the rights and liberties of man and citizen."
The representatives of the international network of journalistic contacts Barents Press are concerned of this situation. Members of the International Board made an announcement:
“The current situation poses a threat personally to blogger Alexander Serebryanikov, but it is also a threat to all those who use the freedom of speech and tell about the events and news that Russian authorities don’t want to make public. The existence of blogs will not allow the authorities to fully control the people's understanding of the current reality, for that reason they are trying to put to silence such sources of information,” the Association of Journalists of the Barents Region says.
