The Sovetsky District Court of Voronezh sentenced a 24-year-old worker to one year of corrective labor in a case over the display of banned symbols, Mediazona reports.
Case details. The prosecution was prompted by a photograph of Adolf Hitler and a selfie in a hat and hoodie with a pentagram posted on VKontakte. The court treated the latter image as a display of symbols of the nonexistent “International Satanism Movement.”
As Mediazona notes, a criminal case over the display of banned symbols (Article 282.4 of the Criminal Code) can be opened if a ruling under a similar administrative article (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Code) has already entered into force against that person.
The case against the Voronezh resident became the first known criminal prosecution for Satanism. According to the ruling, the young man is an orphan. In Voronezh, he worked as an electric and gas welder at a reinforced concrete structures plant.
“In childhood he became interested in religion, and at the age of 12 he read the Bible. This religious movement did not interest him, after which he became an atheist. During his life he observed unlawful behavior by visiting citizens, after which he became interested in the Nazi movement, in particular its inspirer Adolf Hitler. Later in life he began reading about the Satanism movement,” the young man’s testimony says.
Persecution for “Satanism.” In July last year, the Supreme Court recognized the nonexistent “International Satanism Movement” as an “extremist” organization. After that, several dozen administrative cases were filed in Russia under the article on the “display of extremist symbols” linked to the “International Satanism Movement.”
As the Prosecutor General’s Office stated, the movement is “closely linked to manifestations of radical nationalism and neo-Nazism. Along with ritual murders, participants commit other crimes as well, including against minors.”
Representatives of the Russian metal scene believe that labeling citizens as “Satanists” is a convenient tool for selective repression and for controlling informal movements.