Russia: Bloggers Outraged About Pedophile Case

Aleksey Sleptsov, a 25-year-old man from St. Petersburg accused of pedophilia, received six years of suspended sentence, fontanka.ru reported [RUS]. Sleptsov was accused of molesting his 5-year-old niece. The court found him guilty of raping the girl 13 (!) times but didn't imprison him. The court justified its decision by presenting good recommendations of Sleptsov from his work and from the members of his family, which was allegedly unaware of the crimes he committed.

Another quite disturbing detail of the case is that police, court and prosecutor's office were silencing the verdict for almost a week. The court's decision would remain unknown if Oksana Homyakova, lawyer of the rape victim, didn't publish the details of the case online. As the matter was publicized, it brought attention of the kid's ombudsman in Russia [EN] Pavel Astakhov [RUS]. After a day of fierce online campaign, he announced [RUS] that he is going to take the case under his personal control and would appeal against the verdict.

The Russian blogosphere was disgusted with the mild verdict. Many bloggers stressed that giving a suspended sentence for pedophilia is an encouragement for further crimes. At the same time, the Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko proposed forced sterilization for all persons accused of pedophilia.

Influential blogger radulova was among the first to write about this case [RUS] by copy-pasting the news message. However, a couple of lines provoked a heated discussion with lots of cursing and emotional hate-speech towards pedophiles. Another discussion emerged at fontanka.ru.

Nikaroma:

Кошмар какой!!! Все с ног на голову перевернули. Насилуют детей – и никто за это не наказывает!А судьи кто?

It's horrible!!! All things are topsy-turned. Kids are being raped – and no one is punished for that! And who are the judges?

jabeika:

кастрировать эту тварь…и пусть дальше работает и жену радует, сука!!!

Castrate this beast… and let this bastard work and have a happy life with his wife.

solar_kitten:

Вообще шесть(!) лет условно – это ппц… они бы еще пожизненное условно стали давать… :)

Basically, six (!) years of suspended sentence is crazy… They should also give a suspended life sentence, too… ;)

illart:

Да, было бы хорошо еще татуировку на лоб – педофил. Если после 15 лет в тюряге выживет, то где-то в переулке точно получит “правосудие”…
А судье бы тоже написать “Помогаю педофилам”, как за взятку отсидит (если отсидит) пусть что хочет, то и делает. Никакой гуманной справедливости быть не может.

It would be good to make a tatto on a forehead – “a pedophile”. Even if he survives 15 years in prison, in some alley he would definitely get his “justice”… And a judge should get a tattoo “I help pedophiles,” and when he/she survives the jail for bribery (if he/she will) so let him/her do what he/she wants. There can't be a humane justice.

ludmila4551

Не обсуждаю несоразмерность наказания преступлению – это очевидно.
Но кроме этого я считаю, что родители в таких случаях винованы очень. Невозможно незамечать, что с таким маленьким ребенком (а началось все, когда девочке было пять лет!) происходит что-то ужасное! Кто-нибудь пробовал договориться о чем-то с пятилетним ребенком, да еще и быть уверенным, что ребенок сохранит тайну? Когда вы в последний раз видели пятилетних детей? В этом возрасте они не могут лицемерить (страшно, боятся человека – покажут это, просто не смогут скрыть). Если ребенок испуган, травмирован – это видно невооруженным глазом. Почему не поднимают вопрос виды родителей в таких случаях?

I'm not discussing the disproportion of the crime and punishment here – it's obvious. But I think that parents are very guilty in such cases. It's impossible not to notice that with such a small kid (and it all happened when the girl was five!) something horrible is going on. Did anyone try to talk to the kid and be sure that the kid keeps the secret? When did you see 5-year-olds for the last time? In this age they can't be hypocritical (if they're afraid of a person – they will show it, they simply can't hide it). If a kid is frightened, traumatized, it can be noticed with a naked eye. Why no one raises the question of parents’ guilt in such cases?

Twitter users were active in trying to dig in the case. One Twitter user published the telephone number [RUS] of the judge who gave such verdict. Alex_FG posted [RUS] a call to find his profile on the social networks and find him personally.

The mildness of the verdict made the majority of bloggers almost choke with blood, lust and loathing. Most of the bloggers expressed their sympathy to physical reprisal both with the criminal and the judge who issued such a decision. Very little voices spoke of a legal solution to the problem and almost no one tried to find all the details of the case. At the same time, Sleptsov's case became a good example of online “justice” campaigns, which turned out to be even more effective and mobilizing than “advocacy campaigns.”