Court In Russia's Pskov Fines Journalist $6,950 For Comments Justifying Terrorism

A court in the Russian city of Pskov has fined journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva 500,000 rubles ($6,950) for comments made in public that justified terrorism in the wake of the 2018 bombing of the Arkhangelsk Federal Security Service building, a Sputnik correspondent reports

ST. PETERSBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) A court in the Russian city of Pskov has fined journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva 500,000 rubles ($6,950) for comments made in public that justified terrorism in the wake of the 2018 bombing of the Arkhangelsk Federal Security Service building, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

Prosecutors had asked for Prokopyeva to be given a six-year jail term and be banned from working as a journalist for four years.

"The court ... made a decision to impose a fine of 500,000 rubles," chairman of the panel of judges Andrey Morozov said.

In November 2018, Prokopyeva spoke about the bombing incident during an appearance on the Pskov affiliate of the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

The full text of the broadcast was later published by a local news feed.

The broadcast and subsequent publication were later deleted at the request of Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor, and both outlets were fined 350,000 rubles.

The journalist denied guilt and said that the aim of the publication was to establish the events behind the bombing.

In October 2018, a 17-year-old detonated an explosive device inside a Federal Security Service building in the city of Arkhangelsk. The perpetrator died and three officers suffered injuries as a result of the blast.