Prosecutors in eastern Siberia charged a local newspaper editor with extremism for a spate of anti-Semitic articles.
Editor Alexander Yaremenko has faced a steady stream of criticism from local government officials in the town of Chita that the newspaper, which is the official publication of the local branch of the Union of Russian People, printed nationalist and extremist rhetoric.
The historical namesake of the Union of Russian People conducted pogroms, or violent attacks, on Jews in the Russian empire.
On July 10, a local court approved the extremism charges related to an issue of the publication that came out in February of this year. Local officials conducted a psychological and linguistic evaluation of the issue to determine the charges, according to the prosecutors’ office.
The paper’s property has been seized.
“The publication of this issue insulted the honor and dignity of national or religious affiliation,” an aide to the prosecutor told reporters in April. “It justified superiority of one nationality over another or inferiority of several ethnicities.”
