Blagodarov Yuriy Petrovich

The activist from Mari El, Yuri Blagodarov, convicted in the case of discrediting the army, was included in the list of 'terrorists and extremists' under a new criminal case." Blagodarov said that, according to the investigator, the case was opened because of his post last year. Then he addressed the head of the Mari religious community in a local public group with a call to "resist the Christian clergy, priests." "They are already penetrating Mari villages with their tentacles, forcing the Mari to pray to Jesus Christ. While making cross processions through villages, they sow enmity between pagans and Old Believers, inciting discord in our 'RashIya'" - wrote the activist. He asked the head of the community to contact the Investigative Committee so that they would check the pre-investigation check due to the religious processions. But in the end, a case was opened against Blagodarov himself. In 2024, an activist who lives only on a pension was sentenced to a fine of 400 thousand rubles because of a post about the war. 4. _______ Activist Yuri Blagodarov from Mari El, convicted in the case of repeated discrediting of the army (ch. 1 year 280.3 of the Criminal Code), was included in the list of "terrorists and extremists" of Rosfinmonitoring, according to a telegram channel that monitors updates to the list. This post was noticed by the publication SOTAvision. On January 17, local journalist Alexei Seregin reported that a new criminal case had been opened against Blagodarov. He reported this, citing a post by an activist (Blagodarov's page is only available to his friends). It is unknown under which article the case was initiated. In the list of Rosfinmonitoring, Blagodarov's name is listed without an asterisk - this means that it is one of the extremist articles. The investigator informed Blagodarov that the case was initiated due to his post in the public group 'Mari El Online' on September 1, 2024. In this post, the activist addressed the head of the religious organization of the Mari traditional religion "Community 'Mariy kumatysh'" in Mari-Tureksky district, Grigory Ivanov, who then received a certificate from the government of the republic for his personal contribution to the development of Mari spiritual culture. Blagodar wrote that he bears "great responsibility for opposing Christian clergy, priests." "They are already penetrating Mari villages with their tentacles, forcing the Mari to pray to Jesus Christ. While making cross processions through villages, they sow enmity between pagans and two-believers, inciting discord in our 'RashIya'." They are introducing the Christian faith on the principle of "Divide and conquer, sowing enmity between us. It may spill blood if the Cheremis go against the two-believers with axes and guns. NOT TO BE THIS!" - the activist wrote. He called on Ivanov to contact the Investigative Committee in connection with this so that they could conduct a pre-investigation check. Also, the activist accused Alexander Tanigin, the Supreme Mariy Kart of Mari El, of betraying his ancestors and working "for the forces that are trying to exterminate the Cheremis. 19 January, Blagodarov himself, in comments to one of the journalist's posts, said that a new criminal case had been opened against him and published a summons to the investigator for 17 January. The activist wrote that earlier in court he asked the Investigative Committee to conduct a pre-investigation check because of religious processions in Mari villages where Mari pagans live. 1. [I] expressed the opinion that the Christian clergy sows enmity between Mari pagans and two-believers, and TV METR promotes them. Expressed the assumption that pagans could go with axes and guns against two-believers. I wrote about this on my page, dated August 30, 2024. and copied it to the website "Mari El Online", dated September 1, 2024. But the Investigative Department of the city "The Yoshkar-Ola court used the text of my petition against me, initiating a criminal case, the activist writes. In the Republic of Mari El, at the end of May 2024, a criminal case was opened for repeated "discrediting of the army" against 69-year-old activist Yuri Blagodarov. The reason for the criminal prosecution was the anti-war poems of the activist, which he published on February 12, 2024, on VKontakte. The man himself linked his persecution to the authorities' desire to prevent him from participating in the elections to the State Assembly of Mari El and the City Council of Yoshkar-Ola. Earlier, in October 2023, Blagodarov was held liable in a case of an administrative offense under the article on discrediting the army due to a comment on VKontakte, which said: "Eternal memory to the hero. And how long will we endure. On this side, Slavic heroes are dying, on the other side, other Slavic heroes are dying. But Putin is not bothered by anything. He is not satisfied with the dead. He wants glory. And glory rests on victory. Thus, he puts our guys, young guys-continuators of the race, on a pedestal, in order to shout from above - I won. It will not be a scream, but a hoarse voice from the blood flowing like a river. Cheremis, come to your senses. No to war! "Ala Lije!", Since February, the activist has been under house arrest. On November 13, 2024, the Yoshkar-Ola City Court of the Republic of Mari El found Yuri Blagodarn guilty and fined him 400 thousand. rubles. In addition, the court ordered Blagodarov to pay procedural costs of 66 thousand. rubles. The court gave 40 months to pay the fine - the activist must pay 10 thousand. rubles per month, while Blagodarova's pension is 18 thousand. rubles per month.