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Russian blogger Nosik found guilty of extremism over article on Syria

Anton Nosik published was fined $8000 for publishing an article titled "To wipe Syria off the map" in his blog with the purpose of inciting ethnic hatred

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. A Moscow court on Monday found popular Russian blogger Anton Nosik guilty of posting online extremist materials and fined him 500,000 rubles (some $8,000).

According to investigators, Nosik published an article titled "To wipe Syria off the map" in his blog on October 1, 2015 with the purpose of inciting ethnic hatred.

"The court found Nosik guilty of violating Part 2 of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code (inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity)," the judge said.

The court also cancelled travel restrictions imposed on Nosik during the investigation.

Nosik who holds Russian-Israeli citizenship pleaded not guilty. The prosecution was seeking a two-year penal colony sentence for the blogger.

The defense for blogger Anton Nosik fined $8,000 for posting online extremist materials has appealed against the court’s decision, Nosik’s lawyer Sergei Badamshin told TASS on Tuesday.

"We have filed a brief complaint. The punishment imposed by the court does not correspond to the wording of the Russian Criminal Code, under which the verdict was passed," the lawyer said.