Prison Sentences For Online Posts: Russian Government's Attack On The Internet

A chilling chronicle, written by a human rights advocate. This article documents how Russian law enforcement is becoming increasingly harsh towards "undesirable" internet users. They are taking full advantage of the vagueness of newly written laws, where any action as small as a 'like' under a post critical of the regime can be defined as "inciting violence." Meanwhile, right-wing groups, and even mainstream TV presenters, are at liberty to utter the most hateful sentences in public and get away with it.

The punishments doled out by the courts have only increased in severity. Where 10 years ago it was possible to revoke the actual prison sentence, today the lawyers can only hope to soften it.

But the scariest part of this story is not even the abundance of the cases: it's the fatigue of the people. This story can be read as a cautionary tale: one does not need intricate systems like the infamous Golden Shield of China to limit the free speech. It is enough to have a lethargic public.