The case of a girl who is threatened with a prison sentence for sharing memes on social networks has fueled a debate about abuses of the law and censorship in Russia, the BBC writes.
Marija Motuznaya (23) from the Siberian city of Barnaul drew public attention at the end of July when she explained on Twitter why she is on the official list of extremists and terrorists of the Russian state.
"Hello everyone, my name is Maša, I'm 23 years old and I'm an extremist," she wrote in the introduction to her story.
In the 20 tweets that followed, Marija detailed how the police in May accused her of "insulting people" for sharing satirical memes on her profile on Russia's largest social network VKontakte (VK).
After the first hearing, the case will come before the court on August 28. Maria faces up to six years in prison for being accused of spreading hate speech and insulting the feelings of believers - which are considered criminal offenses in Russia.
"There were a few mimes - just some pictures with religious themes - specifically about the Russian Orthodox Church," she told the BBC.
One of the offensive mimes shows women dressed as nuns smoking cigarettes and rushing each other to finish "while god's not looking".
Another shows African children with empty plates in their hands with the comment: "Black humor is like food - it's not available to everyone."
"There were no photos of genocide or anything like that - just some funny pictures," said Marija.
She also explains that she posted those mimes when she was younger and would not post them today, as she has since changed her attitude and sense of humor.
"I was 20 years old and I was a completely different person," she said.
When she learned that she was being investigated by the police, Marija did not believe it at first.
"Honestly, when they first showed me the search warrant, I laughed and asked, 'Are you serious?' I thought it was a joke, that maybe some of my friends had decided to play a joke on me".
When she was brought in for questioning, the police told her that she would be sentenced to "community service and that she would not have a criminal record" if she signed to admit everything they were accusing her of. "I signed everything, trusting our great police," she said, laughing nervously.
“I can't believe this is really happening. It seems to me that every minute someone will come and tell me that someone played a joke on me".
However, this is not a joke. In fact, since her story found its way into the national media, it turned out that there are at least two other people in Marija's town who are facing prison terms for the same charges.
The details of their stories are almost identical to Marija's - they used VKontakte, shared dozens of memes and were later accused of extremism.
One of them, Danil Markin (19), was under investigation for more than a year. One of the photos he shared showed the popular Game of Thrones character Jon Snow as Jesus.
"It's been a year since I started being afraid to go to sleep, thinking that in the morning they would come to take me away," he wrote in a longer post on VK.
"Russia is slowly but surely killing me as an unwanted citizen," he concluded.
It turned out that the investigation against both Danilo and Marija was initiated after two of the same students complained to the police. The girls - who claimed their religious feelings were offended - deleted their social media profiles after the cases became public.
The third defendant, Andrej Šašerin (38), is charged with extremism due to mimes that satirically depict priests and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill.
The police accused Andrej of "discrediting the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church."
In an interview for the independent TV channel Dožd, Andrej said: "I don't want to go to prison, I was terrified of that possibility, as I think anyone would be after a two-hour conversation with those people." I would sign any recognition and statement".
And Andrej found himself on the government's list of extremists. Such status entails severe restrictions on the use of the bank account. For example, he can withdraw a maximum of 10.000 rubles (about 130 euros) per month.
Some Russian media and analysts warn that cases like Maria's, Danilo's and Andrei's are becoming part of a national trend.
Indeed, in recent years, Russian police have found violations of so-called extremism laws in all kinds of Internet content: from memes, posts and images composed of historical photos, to comments or even likes on certain posts.
The president of the international organization of human rights fighters, Agora, Pavel Chikov, claims that one of the reasons why so much attention is paid to "extremism" in Russia is that many government agencies have been in charge of identifying and suppressing it for years. "Everyone has to fight extremism, everyone has to submit a report that they have successfully done their job," explains Chikov.
One of Russia's leading bloggers, Ilya Varlamov, says that at least one law related to extremism - Article 282 on incitement to hatred - was originally passed "to provide the authorities with an excuse to persecute people for their beliefs".
Marija believes that the "judicial system in general, the police and the way the system is organized" should be blamed for what happened to her.
She does not hope that she will be acquitted.
"In principle, here in Russia, the percentage of acquittals is 0,2%." I doubt that I will be so lucky to find myself among them," she told the BBC.
Even if she is released, she plans to leave the country.
"I'm going to try to get out of here, since there's no way I can have a normal life here anymore."
Anything and everything is considered extremism
According to statistical data of the international organization of human rights defenders, Agora, in the last few years, investigations have been initiated against Russian citizens more often due to activities on social networks.
Agora's data shows that in 2017, 411 cases were initiated against Internet users in Russia. Last year there were 298 such cases.
Most of them are accused of extremism. It is a criminal offense that can include:
- inciting hatred and animosity;
- rehabilitation of Nazism;
- calling for separatism;
- insulting the feelings of believers.
As Agora president Pavel Chikov explains, given that Russian laws have a very broad definition of extremism, the police can mean anything by it.
Accusations can range from using "politically incorrect" vocabulary in one's post, to online content that allegedly demeans certain religious and ethnic groups, government officials, or even the police themselves.
VKontakte cooperates with the authorities
Human rights activists argue that most cases of "extremism" are initiated against VK users. They claim that the social network actively cooperates with the police and security services and that it always responds to police inquiries without a court order.
On the other hand, representatives of the VKontakte network say that they are obliged by law to provide information to the police.
"We check every claim very carefully to make sure it's worded correctly," the company told the BBC. "Requests that are not in accordance with the law are not answered".
VK added that it will change the policy and allow users to make their pages completely private. It will also publish data on police requests in the future.
Under pressure from critics, the Russian Internet giant Mail.ru Group, the owner of the VKontakte network, has called for amnesty for those who have been indicted for sharing or liking posts on the Internet.
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