The head of Yabloko in Omsk has been fined over a comment made on VKontakte 15 years ago.

The Kuibyshevsky District Court in Omsk has fined the head of the local branch of Yabloko, Tatyana Shneider, 10,000 roubles (approx. US$110) under the article on inciting hatred or enmity (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The reason was a comment on VKontakte, published in 2011. The party’s press service reported this.

The party maintains that the comment does not belong to Shneider, and that her social media accounts have been hacked multiple times. Officers from the Centre “E” came across the post on 12 August while monitoring her social media. At that time, Shneider was running for the State Duma and was among the first seven on Yabloko’s federal list.

In response to a request from the prosecutor’s office, VKontakte stated that they no longer have data from 2011 on their servers, so it is impossible to confirm whether the comment was published from Shneider’s page. Despite this, the court found her guilty.

Nikolai Rybakov, chair of Yabloko, believes that the prosecution of Shneider is politically motivated. The party notes that a fine under an “extremism” article could deprive her of the right to stand in the upcoming elections.