Source: Open Information Agency 

At 12:00 pm on 1 March the Oktyabrsky district court in Archangelsk will begin delivering its verdict in the case of Ivan Moseyev, 47-year-old director of the Pomor Institute of Indigenous Peoples and Minorities research and education centre at the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, who has been charged with inciting hatred against the Russian ethnic group. The case was brought by the FSB. 

During the proceedings on 18 February the state prosecutor dropped this part of the charges and now Moseyev is charged with insulting the dignity of this ethnic group. This news was reported by lawyer and legal analyst for the Agora Human Rights AssociationRamil Akhmetgaliyev, who together with lawyer Veniamin Belovy is representing  Moseyev.

The prosecution is asking that the accused be sentenced to an unspecified fine. The defence is based on linguistic studies which found no evidence of extremism in the phrase attributed to Moseyev, as well as on the numerous gross errors of the investigators. The defence has asked the court to clear the civil activist on all charges, reports a correspondent for the Open Information Agency. 

"Unfortunately, at no point in the process did the prosecution and judge manage to establish the truth, and they did everything in their power to cover up the shortcomings and gaps in the investigation," said Ramil Akhmetgaliyev. "Any conviction, no matter how small the fine, is punitive to Moseyev and will stay with him for the rest of his life, since a conviction for extremism, even once it is spent, will prevent him from taking up academic, public and research activities in the future."