- Sentence him to a fine of 500,000 rubles.
The courtroom erupts in wild applause. Me, for one, it makes angry. Seriously? They've effectively introduced a fee—half a million rubles—for writing online what you think. And everyone is happy: he got off lightly.
I find Anton's post completely unacceptable, but why should anyone have to pay the state for unacceptable posts?
Or to put it this way: why does Nosik have to pay for an unacceptable post, while Governor Kadyrov is let off by the prosecutor's office for directly inciting murder while abusing his official position?
On the other hand, this is the kind of time we live in: a suspended sentence or a fine for an innocent person is treated as a major victory, because in a Russian "court," an acquittal is basically never even on the table.
Nosik himself spoke about this—he even told a joke in his final statement:
So yes, it's good that Nosik wasn't imprisoned for something he didn't do. But the fact that he was criminally fined despite being innocent is nothing to celebrate. This is a textbook case of knowingly prosecuting an innocent person, and there's really nothing to debate.
One more important point:
Nosik will pay 500,000 rubles.
We will pay 2 to 3 million rubles of public money for this trial. Investigators, prosecutors, expert assessments, several days of court hearings. Stamps, paperwork, bailiffs. It all costs money, and everyone involved gets paid.
Meanwhile, every judge is overloaded, and the hallways are full of people who genuinely need justice. In the holding cells sit actual criminals who need to be tried. On the benches, old women wait miserably with their inheritance and property-division cases. But instead, we have to throw resources at Nosik and his stupid post.
Why the hell does anyone need this at all?
In the beautiful Russia of the future, there will be no such bullshit. Freedom of speech will save us money, too.