A lawsuit filed with a Moscow court accuses popular YouTuber and journalist Yury Dud of “online drug propaganda,” the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Thursday.
The government-affiliated Safe Internet League — a nonprofit that acts as an online morality watchdog — filed a police appeal against Dud in April, accusing him of promoting drugs in his recent interviews with blogger Ivangai and rapper Morgenshtern.
Moscow’s Zyuzinsky District Court has accepted the lawsuit filed against Dud, RIA Novosti reported.
“The case against Yu. A. Dud has been submitted to the court. The date of consideration has not yet been set," RIA Novosti quoted the court’s press service as saying.
If found guilty, Dud would face an administrative fine of up to 1.5 million rubles ($20,857).
Dud hasn't yet commented on the case.
Earlier this month, Morgenshtern was fined 100,000 rubles ($1,390) after a court found evidence of “drug propaganda” in two of his songs. That case was also spearheaded by the Safe Internet League.
More than 20 million people watched Dud’s interview with Ivangai on YouTube and over 26 million watched his interview with Morgenshtern.
Dud has been an outspoken advocate of Russians’ right to peacefully protest, most recently ahead of nationwide protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny that were not authorized by the authorities.
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