Sentenced to two years (later converted into a fine) by a Moscow court on charges of extremism and hate speech, the Russian-Israeli Internet star pays for a thought crime. But it’s hard to feel sympathetic.
“Erase Syria from the face of the earth.” That’s how Anton Nossik titled the article he wrote in the aftermath of the Russian decision to take part in the Syrian slaughter. “I won’t mourn if Syria will be destroyed. Indeed, I will be thankful”.
The sense of the post could be summarized as unconditional support for the Russian bombings in Syria, seen as a threat to Israel, without the slightest regret for its cost in human lives. Indeed, “the bombing of civilian targets has one target: to destroy the country. Destroying homes, roads, infrastructure, so the people die. So the voters of the Syrian Social National Party [ally of Bashar al-Assad] get exactly what they voted for. And if in the hereafter we will held to account for the children who died in the bombing? I do not believe in the afterlife”.
Nossik even sees the funny side of it. “I’m pleased that the Israeli air force are not involved and do not spend money on combat missions. Israel gasoline is very expensive, while in Russia it’s cheaper […] Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], do it. A carpet bombing, don’t be shy, do it! “.
Advice already taken
The post, what happened afterwards, Nosik’s prosecution and conviction: everything in this story is repugnant. And it hurts.
It hurts because no one can write – or think or say – things like those written by Nosik and not expect to be held to account. Not before any god, but before men.
It hurts because we are here to defend the freedom of expression till the end. Because it’s a thought crime that is being punished under Article 282 of the Criminal Code, the law that Russian judges have applied to Nosik in the same way they silence many dissonant voices.
But it hurts mostly because, a year after it was written, Nosik’s advice has been taken by Vladimir Vladimirovich. “A carpet bombing, don’t be shy”: it’s what is going on right now, while I’m writing, while you’re reading. “And if in the hereafter we will held to account for the children who died in the bombing?”: no worries, because no one is demanding justice for it even in this world. “The United Nations stopped counting the dead children in Syria in 2013, when there were about 11,000 of them. It is feared that there are at least five times as many child victims now “, said the spokeman for Unicef Italy, Andrea Iacomini, a few days ago.
A felonius opinion
It is repugnant and perverse. Perverse because Nosik is one of the dissonant voices in Russia, one of those voices that come in the crosshairs of Article 282, a tool meant to silence dissent.
Perverse because Nosik in the past stood in favour of the release of Pussy Riot and dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, and perhaps for this reason many newspapers have fallen into the “Blogger convicted for extremism” trap, suggesting that it is the usual kind of case of selective justice.
Perverse because, besides the abomination of thought crime, this is likely a case of highly selective justice. Nosik is a well-known blogger, who has written and talked about Russian propaganda and the role of the army of trolls in the war with Ukraine, whose name appears frequently in the foreign press and who has now been sentenced for having incited the Kremlin to do something that it is actually doing.
Perverse, finally, because while condemning the application of Article 282 it is very difficult to express solidarity with a free mind punished for expressing his thoughts. And it’s even easy to be disappointed because the sentence was converted to an $8,000 fine.
@daniloeliatweet
Sentenced to two years (later converted into a fine) by a Moscow court on charges of extremism and hate speech, the Russian-Israeli Internet star pays for a thought crime. But it’s hard to feel sympathetic.
