Prosecutor wants Golden Horde activist charged with extremism for web postings to be sentenced to 5 years
MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The prosecution has asked a court in Kazan to sentence to five years in a penal colony the leader of the Altyn Urda (Golden Horde) movement Danis Safargali who is charged with extremism for his postings in VKontakte social network, Irina Khrunova, a lawyer of the International Human Rights Group representing the interests of the activist told Interfax.
"Vakhitovsky district court in Kazan today heard the arguments of the sides in the course of which the prospector asked to sentence Safargali to five years of imprisonment in a general penal colony," Khrunova said on Monday.
She said that together with her colleague Irina Gontsova she asked to acquit their client.
Earlier reports said Safargali is accused of fanning ethnic hatred. The investigation says that in 15 postings in the social network the civil activist stated his opinion about allegedly doubtful media publications, about Russians, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian president, in particular in the context of the situation in Crimea.
"Previously the hearings were put off several times because Safargali suffers fro claustrophobia which complicated his transportation to court. Thus on March 1 he lost consciousness on the way from the detention facility to the court hearing," his attorney said.
The defense believes that Safargali should be placed under house arrest.
According to open data, the Altyn Urda Tatar Patriotic Front is a Tatar nationalist organization that was registered in Tatarstan in September 2012 but launched its activities several years earlier. It aims at preserving and advancing the Tatar people and supporting the unification of all ethnic groups of the Tatar people under a common ideology of their origin in the Golden Horde.