Charges Filed Against Russians for Calling Putin a Fascist, a Psychopath, a Fuehrer, and a Coward

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Dec. 2 – In the five years since the Russian government made showing a lack of respect to Russian leaders and institutions, the authorities have opened 681 cases in which Russians have been charged with doing just that. 220 involved Putin personally when he was called a fascist, a psychopath, a fuehrer and a coward.

            Those are a portion of the results of an investigation conducted by the SibReal portal found that in just under two-thirds of these cases (66.4 percent), those charged were fined from between 5,000 and 100,000 rubles (50 to 1,000 US dollars). 21.8 percent of these cases were returned to investigators and 11.8 percent were dismissed (severreal.org/a/putin-obidelsya-kak-na-fone-voyny-rossiyan-presleduyut-za-neuvazhenie-k-vlasti/32709651.html).

            In addition to Putin, other targets of popular anger included the police (31), governors and other officials (20), the state as a whole (10), its flag and coat of arms (10), judges (7), and Dmitry Medvedev (7). The heads of occupied Crimea, Bashkortostan, and Kemerovo oblast were the most often defended against such “defamation.”