Boris Obraztsov

On February 8, 2011, the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Kaliningrad region received a statement from journalist Maxim Makarov against the publisher and founder of the newspaper "Tridevyatiy Region" Boris Obraztsov.

On March 16, 2011, it became known that a criminal case under part 1 of the Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement to hatred and humiliation of dignity based on religious affiliation using the media) had been opened against Boris Obraztsov. A representative of the Centre for Russian Culture made a statement about the initiation of the case.

The reason for the lawsuit was a comment to the article "Spiritual regulations of pret-a-porter" left by Boris Obraztsov in the "VIP" supplement to the newspaper "Tridevyatiy Region - Kaliningrad".

The trial, which began on July 21, did not satisfy the prosecutor's request for a sentence of 1.5 years of imprisonment in a settlement colony for the publisher.

On September 19, 2011, the Leningradsky District Court of Kaliningrad issued a guilty verdict. Obraztsov was sentenced to a 110,000 roubles fine.

On December 5, 2011, searches took place in Boris Obraztsov's apartment and in his workplace in Kaliningrad.

Obraztsov was informed about the new criminal case by the officers of the Centre "E" (Centre for Combating Extremism) who conducted the search. Allegedly, it was initiated due to the repeated posting of the comment on the Internet, for which he had already been fined.

The comment was posted on November 15 or 16. Obraztsov denies having anything to do with it.