Did he spit or did he sneeze: that is the question.
Translation: “Don’t put Dimitry into jail because of me. Since I am just a random snivel, and not saliva.” (source – http://www.ridus.ru/)
Translated from Gazeta.ru:
The court of Cheboksary found the activist of “The Other Russia” Dmitry Karuev guilty of committing an administrative offense. During the demonstration of protest he sneezed at the portrait of Vladimir Putin.
“The Court gave Karuev the maximum punishment for ‘petty hooliganism’ – 15 days of administrative arrest“, – said the head of the human rights organization “Shield and Sword” Alexey Glukhov. Glukhov added that he already had filed a complaint against this decision.
The activist of “The Other Russia” Dmitry Karuev was arrested after his one-man demonstration against the inauguration of Vladimir Putin. Police officer thought that Karuev spat at the portrait of Putin which he was holding in his hands.
After the picket Karuev was asked to come to the police department for interrogation. After he refused, Dmitry was located in the center of Cheboksary and taken to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In police he was charged under the Article 20.01 of the Administrative Code of Russia.
Dmitry Karuev
Karuev commented: “In fact, I didn’t spit, I just sneezed“.
Comments of Russian netizens
suare: The hashtag #чихатьнапутина became one of the most popular in Twitter on May 30.
[Note: чихатьнапутина means "to sneeze on Putin". Also, it has the second meaning of "not give a heck about Putin"]
skrt: I’ll go to sneeze on Putin. And then on Nurgaliyev.
[Note: Nurgaliyev is the former Minister of Internal Affairs - which is in charge of police in Russia]
begemoth: Attaching the scan of the report of police officer about the incident.
Translation: “Hereby I report that on 06.05.2012 Karuev Dmitry Sergeevich <…> with the purpose of breaking the social order, approached the portrait of the elected President of Russian Federation V.V. Putin <…> and expressing the clear disrespect for society demonstratively spat at the portrait of the elected president of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin…”
DrPrpr: And everyone was applauding Putin, and whoever didn’t – he was shot on the spot.
faumarce2: The paper is exaggerating regarding the sneezing, surely this guy is extremist.
bpar_8_p (replying to the previous comment): Of course, he is extremist. He is inciting the hatred against the social group of “Russian Federation Presidents”.
[Note: commenter is mocking the recent case in which the top manager of Gazprombank Alexander Schmidt asked to open the criminal proceedings against some bloggers. The bloggers were accused in "inciting the hatred against the social group of major companies' top management" for publishing the compromising material about Schmidt]
hodir: During the reign of Emperor Alexander III, certain soldier Oreshkin got drunk and started a brawl in tavern. People tried to reason him pointing at the emperor’s portrait. To this the soldier replied: “I spat on your Emperor!” Of course, he was arrested and brought to trial.
Soon, the crime was reported to the emperor himself. Alexander, realizing that the whole story was not worth a dime, wrote on the folder: ”Halt the case, release Oreshkin, stop hanging my portraits in pubs. And tell Oreshkin that I spit on him, too.“
ajjerim: And if he kissed [the portrait] – he would be promoted.
nedbar (replying to ajjerim): And if he made love with it?
alexrus79: Obviously, we are North Korea…
ext_822186: At home my whole TV is in saliva because of Putin, so what?
sattva222: They should print the portraits of the Highness ass – so that putinists can lick it.
wbuey: Sneezing equals disorderly conduct, I am scared to think what would be the charge if he wiped his ass with newspaper on which the brightest face was printed. : 0
unbotox: In some 10 years the portrait of Putin, on which the activist of “The Other Russia” sneezed will cost millions.
reallifenews: I just wonder – was it the portrait of Putin-President or Putin-Prime Minister?
offinogenchenko: What if they start producing handkerchiefs with Putin’s portrait?
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I understand that many people in Russia are not fans of him. But what I don’t understand is why those people keep doing something childish which only put themselves into jail in the end?
I agree with your point of view in general aspect: people should refrain from hooliganism, as the form of protest.
However, in my opinion, the punishment was inappropriate. In this situation authorities should take example from the Emperor Alexander III (described in the post).
I would summarize it in such way. The activist of opposition made a clear provocation. But the reaction of police and court was inadequate. As a result, Karuev had a moral victory in this incident.