A man from the Urals was convicted of insulting a Sverdlovsk police officer on social media.

      The Sysert District Court sentenced a 31-year-old resident of the settlement of Bolshoy Istok to corrective labor with a wage deduction after he posted insults about police officers on social networks.

      The man was identified by detectives of the internal security unit of the regional MVD headquarters. The defendant had previously broken the law. He has a prior conviction for illegal drug trafficking and is currently not officially employed.

      Operatives forwarded the case materials to the investigative authorities. A criminal case was opened there under the article “Insulting a representative of authority.” The defendant pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and formally apologized to the former traffic police inspector.

      By the court’s sentence the resident of Bolshoy Istok was given a penalty of four months’ corrective labor with 5% of his salary withheld and paid to the state. In addition, compensation for moral damage in the amount of 25,000 rubles was awarded to the victim.

      “Keyboard warriors who leave comments on social networks under news about the work of law enforcement officers, or who express their opinions publicly in the presence of others, should remember that, according to Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for publicly insulting a representative of authority while he is carrying out his official duties there is not a virtual but a very real liability. Statements on social networks, in case anyone didn’t know, are also public. In the age of technology it is not difficult to find such commentators,” said the press secretary of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region, Valery Gorelykh.