In St. Petersburg, the Lenin District Court made a decision regarding blogger Ekaterina Bivol, whose provocative comments on social media caused a wide public outcry. The court found her guilty under Article 20.3.1 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced her to 60 hours of community service for inciting interethnic hatred and humiliating the dignity of people. A linguistic examination confirmed the presence of gross insults and ideas of superiority based on genetic traits in her statements.
The surge of public discontent was triggered by a video posted last autumn that contained aggressive remarks as well as profanity directed at the peoples of Central Asia. Forensic experts noted that Bivol's rhetoric was aimed at discrimination based on national and linguistic criteria. The response from Russian justice was swift, and the blogger's actions were classified as incitement of hatred.
However, the consequences for Bivol turned out to be much more serious than just an administrative punishment in Russia. The authorities of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan took a tough stance: an arrest warrant was issued for the Russian woman in Bishkek, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan declared her wanted. Now, the status of "persona non grata" and criminal prosecution in neighboring countries have become the real price for her attempt to attract attention through nationalist content.
