October 20, 2026, 10:54 AMRSSRU

Minas Budaghian

At largeChecked October 18, 2026

Minas Budaghian, Krasnodar Krai. Charges: Article 148 part 1, Russian Criminal Code (Public insult of religious feelings); “Minas Budagyan's case of a hookah on an Easter cake”. Sentence (January 26, 2022): a fine of 20 thousand roubles. Status: at large.

In brief

Krasnodar Krai · NULL · Bartenders

Sentence

a fine of 20 thousand roubles

Verdict January 26, 2022

No information about an appeal ruling.

Charges

Full wording of the charges

According to the investigators' version, "bought a kulich (Easter bread) in the shop of OOO Agrotorg "Pyaterochka", located at the address: <address> kulich (Easter bread), after which he returned to the cafe "VOSK", at the above address, where, disparaging the Orthodox faith, pursuing the goal of offending the religious feelings of believers, acting deliberately, that is, aware of the public danger of his actions, foreseeing the onset of socially dangerous consequences in the form of violation of constitutional rights and offence to the religious feelings of an indefinite number of Orthodox believers, and wishing them to occur, he made a bowl from the kulich (Easter bread) he had purchased, in which he put tobacco and lit coals, and prepared a hookah for smoking tobacco. Immediately after that, FIO1, continuing his deliberate unlawful actions, on DD.MM.GGGY at approximately 17:20 hours, proceeded to the territory adjacent to the emergency exit of the cafe "VOSK", located at the address: <address>, in the course of smoking the above-mentioned hookah using a kulich (Easter bread) instead of a tobacco flask, wishing to demonstrate publicly his hookah smoking, which offends the feelings of believers, attracted his acquaintance FiO6, unaware of his illegal intentions, to whom he gave his mobile phone "XiaomiMiMix 2S" and asked to make a video recording of the process of his smoking.FiO6, being unaware of FiO1's illegal intentions, using the latter's mobile phone "XiaomiMiMix 2S" made 3 video recordings, lasting 13.9 and 5 seconds respectively, as well as took 1 photo of a hookah using a kulich (Easter bread) instead of a tobacco flask and the process of its smoking by FiO1, after which he handed the phone to FiO1.MM.YYYY in the period of time from 17:00 to 18:00, more precise time is not established, FIO1, continuing to be in the territory adjacent to the emergency exit of the cafe "VOSK" located at the address: <address>, i. Krymsk. Krymsk.<address>, with the purpose of giving publicity to his unlawful actions aimed at offending the religious feelings of believers, expressing clear disrespect for society, acting openly, publicly, available for the attention of an indefinite circle of people. deliberately violating the generally recognised norms and rules of behaviour, wishing to contrast himself with others, to demonstrate a disdainful attitude towards the religious principles of the Orthodox Christian faith, using his mobile phone "XiaomiMiMix2S", connected to the worldwide system of unified computer networks for storage and transmission of information "Internet", published in his personal account in the Internet service "lnstagram": minas_budagyan, the access to which is open to an unlimited number of persons, one of the above-mentioned video recordings having the name "VID_20210502_173629.mp4" and lasting 13 seconds, on which, in response to FIO6's utterance of the Easter greeting "Christ is Risen" instead of "Amen" - usually the concluding formula in prayers and psalms in Christianity, designed to confirm the truth of the spoken words, said "Aluminium", and also signed this video: "Believers !!!! Happy new year fuck** !!!!" (profanity), which was copied and published in other accounts of the Internet service "lnstagram" with open access and viewed by an undetermined number of persons from among Orthodox believers".

Latest event

January 26, 2022 — first-instance verdict

The court delivered a guilty verdict.

Checked October 18, 2026 · no changes since October 15

Timeline

  1. · First-instance verdict

    guilty verdict

  2. · Persecution ends

  3. · Persecution begins

    Minas Budagyan's case of a hookah on an Easter cake

Criminal case

Minas Budagyan's case of a hookah on an Easter cake

Case number
1-66/2022 (1-360/2021;)

There are no other defendants in this case in the database.

Details and sources

Full summary

According to OVD-Info

A resident of Krymsk (Krasnodar region). A case of insulting the feelings of believers was brought against him because he published a video of him preparing a hookah using an Easter kulich as a bowl. On 26 January 2022, Budagyan was sentenced to a fine of 20 thousand rubles. For some unknown reason, the sentence was passed by the Crimean district court, although cases under the article on offence to the feelings of believers should be considered by magistrate judges.

All fields of the record
Citizenship
Russia

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