Russian Prosecutors Charge Blogger With Inciting Hatred

MOSCOW — Prosecutors have charged a Russian blogger who wrote on a popular Internet site that police should be publicly incinerated in what is believed to be the country's first such case against a blogger. Savva Terentyev said yesterday he was charged with inciting hatred in a court in the northern city of Syktyvkar. The charges stemmed from his posting on a Web forum in February 2007 that criticized police in the wake of a raid on an opposition newspaper. "They're trash — and those that become cops are simply trash, dumb, uneducated representatives of the animal world," he wrote. The case comes at a time of growing concerns in Russia that authorities have begun to tighten control over the Internet. Web logs, online newspapers and chat rooms have emerged as a vibrant source of critical news and commentary in Russia, compared with much of the national press.