Aleksandr Kharlamov
Aleksandr Kharlamov is a blogger and a human rights activist. He was arrested on March 14, 2013 in Ridder (eastern Kazakhstan) and is accused of inciting religious hatred (article 164 of the criminal code) for articles posted on his blog and other social media where he discussed Christianity and the personality of Jesus. Kharlamov's blog posts discussed Jesus as a "Jewish philosopher" whose true teachings were distorted over the years by the Church's elites. For some period of time, he was forcibly detained in a psychiatric clinic. Kharlamov was informed of the investigation against him on February 6 2013 when his office was raided and two desktop computers, a laptop and several documents were seized. According to Kharlamov and his lawyer, this accusation is a pretext for harassment. According to them, the blogger is being persecuted because of his investigative reports on local corruption, including an article on the recent conviction of a police officer.
Aleksandr Kharlamov was RELEASED on September 3, 2013 under strict conditions while the investigation against him continued. The case was closed on April 27, 2018 and restrictions were lifted on May 5, 2018.