Olga Lee

On 25 March 2016, a case of defamation of a judge was reported to have been opened against Olga Lee in connection with the judge’s consideration of court cases or materials. This came two weeks after Lee had posted a video on YouTube, in which she stated that Putin's foreign and domestic policies had led to the collapse of Russia's financial system and suppression of the rule of law. Lee also accused Putin of a "criminal conspiracy against his own people" and "propaganda of violence" that filled state TV channels. At a meeting of Kursk Oblast Duma deputies, she was told that because of her appeals to the Russian president, a criminal case had been opened against her, accusing her of slander and extremism. Deputies for United Russia, CPRF and LDPR openly expressed their dissatisfaction with her. Most of all, she was criticised for not supporting the annexation of Crimea to Russia and insulting Putin. On 1 April, Lee was reported to have also been charged with incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity on the grounds of belonging to a social group of representatives of the authorities, in particular, employees of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. The cases were merged into a single proceeding. Later, the local Centre for Combating Extremism found no signs of extremism in her video. In October 2016, the charges under the article on inciting hatred were dropped. On 26 June 2017, she was sentenced to a fine of 90 thousand rubles in a libel case.