When you are penalized for criticizing your government, you are living under authoritarian rule. As if Russia needed more authoritarian muscle, it now has a new law under which it can convict, fine, and sometimes detain anyone showing "disrespect toward the authorities." The first to be convicted under the debated law is a Russian resident whose identity remains undisclosed.
Radio Free Europe reports that on April 23, a lawyer from the legal aid group Agora found the announcement of the case on the website of a district court in the city of Chudovo. The case had been posted April 22.
The court stated that it had fined the individual, who was identified only by the initial K, 30,000 rubles ($470) for two social-media posts that "offend human dignity and social morals and express clear disrespect to society, the state, and government organs of the Russian Federation." The posts were allegedly made on March 31, two days after the new law came into effect.
The “convict” didn’t receive the full penalty. Under the law, insulting the authorities or any state symbol is punishable by fines up to 100,000 rubles ($1,570) or administrative detention, which can last over two weeks.
A fine—or Russian administrative detention? I choose door No. 1, Monty. I shudder to think what can happen during a 15-day sleepover with Russian officials. Imagine what Trump would do if he could legally get his hands on a resister for 15 days. Now multiply that by 10. The late John McCain once described Putin as a “former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies, and attempted to undermine America’s elections.” And we get the impression that McCain was being nice.
Yet, Putin is the man Trump wants to be when he grows up. Thing is, he’ll never grow up—and he’ll never be the man.