08:22, 1 May 2020

Fine imposed on Vadim Cheldiev for coronavirus fake challenged

Vadim Cheldiev. Screenshot from video posted by Ossetia News - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZPv8lnkTw

The court failed to establish whether Vadim Cheldiev, the initiator of protests in North Ossetia, had anything to do with publishing false information about coronavirus, his defence said in an appeal.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 21, the court fined Vadim Cheldiev by 75,000 roubles for disseminating false information about the coronavirus epidemic in Italy.

Cheldiev is the initiator of an unsanctioned rally in Vladikavkaz on April 20, but he was detained well before the start of the rally. He was arrested for two months under the case of violence against a state official.

The imposition by the Promyshlenny District Court of Vladikavkaz of an administrative fine for the distribution of fakes was appealed against, said the advocate, Batraz Kulchiev.

He pointed out that it was not known whether Cheldiev was the administrator or moderator of the Telegram channel that had posted this video with false information about the situation with coronavirus in Italy, the "Interfax" has reported.

Earlier, on April 29, in Moscow, law enforcers detained Arsen Besolov, the administrator of the Telegram chat, in which Vadim Cheldiev's supporters used to communicate.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 30, 2020 at 05:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.