In a ruling handed down on January 17 the Moscow city court overturned the ruling of Moscow’s Simonov district court to refuse the arrest of Salmon Rajabzoda (Salmon Jumaboy), the blogger from Tajikistan, and the case has been sent for retrial, the Telegram channel of Moscow’s courts of general jurisdiction reports.
The Moscow’s Simonov district court had earlier refused the arrest of the blogger on the basis of a probe launched by Russia’s Investigative Committee against Salmon Rajabzoda allegedly inciting hatred (Article 282 (2) of Russia’s Penal Code) over a video that spread on social networks in December last year. The video allegedly humiliates women with Slavic features.
Recall, the blogger was detained on January 7 and Russia’s Investigative Committee has institute criminal proceedings against him under the provision of Article 282 (2) of Russia’s penal Code – inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity.
The blogger allegedly incited hatred over the video “humiliating women with Slavic features”.
The Telegram channels Ostorozhno, Novosti, and Shot have reported that the charge against him stems from a video where he allegedly says that “soon all the Russian girls will be ours.”
Meanwhile, Moscow’s Simonov district court on January 9 refused the arrest of Salmon Rajabzoda because it considered the investigation’s arguments unconvincing.
The Moscow city court on January 17 overturned the ruling handed down by Moscow’s Simonov district court and if Rajabzoda is convicted he would face up to six years in prison.
The Current Time reported on January 8 that the blogger claims the video is fake. Rajabzoda reportedly claims the video was made by someone else and that it was not his voice in the clip.
