The St. Petersburg City Court accepted for production the lawsuit of the prosecutor's office against the former deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly and Boris Vishnevsky. In the lawsuit, the department asks to recognize his book 'Chronicles of the Revived Arkanar' as extremist material, reported the head of the press service of the city courts Daria Lebedeva. In addition to Vishnevsky and the prosecutor's office, the book publishing house 'Norma' and the Ministry of Justice's office for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region became 'interested parties'.
According to the prosecutor's office, the book presents Russia as a 'fascistizing state' and describes it as an 'empire of hypocrisy'. According to the examination conducted at Herzen University, the author 'calls for the violent change of the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation and incites enmity and hatred towards believers of the Russian Orthodox Church'.
In comments to 'Rotunda', Lebedeva reported that, as stated in the lawsuit, Vishnevsky in the book called on Russia to 'answer' for the annexation of Crimea and suggested that the peninsula would be returned to Ukraine by force. The incitement of hatred towards believers was seen in the author's claim that the goal of the Russian Orthodox Church was 'to acquire property'. 'The articles are united by the author's position and a common semantic message — to show the insolvency of the current government,' — quoted the words of experts by the court representative.
'Chronicles of the Revived Arkanar' is a collection of selected articles and records by Vishnevsky from 2008-2015 about the most significant political events in St. Petersburg and Russia as a whole, published in 2017.
Former deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly Boris Vishnevsky was included in the register of 'foreign agents' in March 2024. Because of this, he was forced to resign his deputy powers.
* Recognized as a 'foreign agent' in Russia.