The Moscow department of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case for insulting the feelings of believers (Part 1 of Article 148 of the Criminal Code) against a blogger who trampled on the “Christian cross.” This was reported in the department’s telegram channel.
According to the investigation, the man trampled a cross on July 12 during a stream. He was detained.
On July 16, Readovka published a video in which a blogger with the nickname Javier, during a stream on the Bigo Live platform, tramples a cross lying on the floor with his foot and spits on it. According to the pro-government Telegram channel, the account belongs to a security guard from Dagestan.
After the stream, the blogger recorded a video with an apology, which was posted by the far-right telegram channel “Mnogonational”. He also wrote that the man’s name was Javier Yarmagomedov; in 2018, he was fined five thousand rubles for stealing money from a mosque.
In the apology video, Yarmagomedov called his actions on the stream “self-defense.” “It was like a provocation on their part. Yes, I was wrong, I apologize, but they started provoking me,” the blogger said.
On July 17, State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to find “this scoundrel.” The Investigative Committee added that the blogger should be taken away for interrogation.