Russian Feminist Blogger Charged With Inciting Hate Toward Men

A Russian feminist blogger has been charged with inciting hatred toward men on social media, less than two weeks after she told rights organizations she was being investigated for extremism.

Lyubov Kalugina, a self-described radical feminist,  faces up to 5 years behind bars under Article 282 [Russian Law], which bans the “incitement of national, racial or religious enmity. In late August that she was subject of a pre-investigation check into her social media posts after an anonymous man had complained that her posts insulted him as a male.

Russian activists, social networks companies and even legislators have criticized anti-extremism charges which they say sweep up ordinary users who posted insensitive texts or images on their social media pages. (Moscow Times, September 5, 2018)

Translated from Russian:

Lyubov Kalugina, a 31-year-old blogger in the Siberian city of Omsk, said this week that investigators have opened a preliminary probe into material dating back to 2013 that she posted on the Russian social-networking site VKontakte.

The probe comes amid a mounting public debate in Russia about a broad crackdown on online speech in recent years -- including reposts and likes on social media sites such as Facebook -- that critics say authorities are using to stymie dissent and boost conviction rates.

Rights groups have tracked a spike in the number of extremism and hate-speech cases in Russia over social-media posts in recent years, including content critical of the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church that rights watchdogs say is constitutionally protected speech.
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While the Russian constitution provides for free speech [Article 29 "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought and speech. Everyone shall have the right to seek, get, transfer, produce and disseminate information by any lawful means. The freedom of the mass media shall be guaranteed. Censorship shall be prohibited."] It also states that "Propaganda or campaigning inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred and strife is impermissible." Just where that line between freedom of thought and expression and inciting social, racial, national or religious hatred and strife should be drawn is what these cases are about.

It is not the place of the government, any government, to censor what people can say and what people can read, and what people can post on-line.