Yekaterina Vologzheninova stood trial on October 27th before court for the first time due to alleged "hatred and inciting hatred against Russia and against the Russians fighting in the east of Ukraine". The allegations are based on her posts criticizing the Russian government on social media. She criticized the Russian annexation of the Crimea and Russia's involvement in the conflict in Donbass, eastern Ukraine.
Yekaterina Vologzheninova, a shop assistant from Yekaterinburg, published on Vkontakte during 2014 a number of posts with links to publications, films, texts, and images in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. Some were critical of the Russian annexation of the Crimea (annexation is violative of international law), others of the participation of Russia in the conflict in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. Her account is available only to confirmed friends. On December 12th, 2014, police took Yekaterina Vologzheninova from her apartment for questioning. She was accused of „public incitement of hatred or enmity and spotting human dignity“ (Article 282 Part I of the Russian Criminal Code). If convicted, she would face up to five years of imprisonment.
During the investigation of the case, state authorities solicited psycholinguistic expertise to analyze her posts and questioned her colleagues and other acquaintances, attempting to prove that her motivation was specifically to incite hatred. The investigation concluded that Yekaterina Vologzheninova’s intention had been to publicly and deliberately criticize government policies and incite hatred against the Russian government and the Russians fighting in eastern Ukraine. In late September 2015, the case was handed over to the court in Zheleznodorozhnyi Court in Yekaterinburg. The first hearing was held on October 27th.
