Ivan Peregorodiev, a 22-year-old medical student and blogger, has been arrested on December 3 for spreading rumors about pneumonic plague in the city of Saratov. Authorities accused him of disseminating false information related to an act of terrorism. On December 2, the Russian bloggers actively discussed allegations that a large population of Saratov had been infected with H1N1 virus. The rumors said that authorities concealed many fatalities caused by the swine flu and the whole city was about to be closed for quarantine [RUS]. Later, people started talking about alleged cases of pneumonic plague blaming them on a local “anti-plague” research institute. The situation became so serious that Saratov Governor Pavel Ipatov [ENG] interrupted his visit to Belarus and returned to the city to deal with public outcry. Citing a post from a Russian social news Web site, Ivan Peregorodiev, aka lj-user iperegorodiev (his account is currently suspended), challenged an official statement that dismissed any possibility of pneumonic plague:
Turns out we may have a plague. “The results of the autopsy of people that died of swine flu - that became publicly available - caused panic. According to witnesses, the results of lung destruction resembled the cases of pneumonic plague described in medical literature.” (http://smi2.ru/saratoff/c243648) [RUS] Do our authorities tell the truth when they dismiss this information? Today they plan to spray disinfectant solution against pneumonic plague from helicopters… P.S. And here is another one http://www.epidemiolog.ru/prof/index.php?SECTION_ID=&ELEMENT_ID=3868 [RUS]
He followed up with another post just hours after the first one:
What is going on? Gentlemen, here is the latest news from an epidemic station: helicopters are loaded with disinfectant solution. P.S. Plots of American movies about the Apocalypse become reality.
The city officials denied any rumors about the plague but confirmed 17 fatal cases of swine flu. The authorities also admitted that city hospitals were overcrowded and Saratov's budget did not have enough money to purchase H1N1 vaccine. Some bloggers [RUS] found Peregorodiev's message similar to the one that escalated the swine flu panic in Ukraine a month ago. Like in the case with Saratov, the rumors in Ukraine also had “helicopters spraying disinfectant solution.” The Saratov Prosecutor's Office quickly announced [RUS] its plans to find disseminators of the rumors and Ivan Peregorodiev became the first to be arrested. He was accused of transmitting a “deliberately false information related to an act of terrorism” (Article 207 of the Russian Criminal Code). The Prosecutor's Office did not explain how the information in Peregorodiev's blog posts and the pneumonic plague rumors were related to any act of terrorism. The Institute for Collective Action, a Russian non-profit organization, started a campaign [RUS] to free Peregorodiev. Activists argue that, by questioning an official statement of Saratov officials, the blogger was exercising his right to the freedom of speech.
UPD: Ivan was released from jail on December 4th but is still under suspicion of committing a crime, reports Novaya Gazeta.
[...] Read more about the story here. [...]
posted on December 4th, 2009 at 5:18 pm - #21462[...] misinformed blogging, or Saratov is ground zero for a major swine flu coverup. (Via BoingBoing.) Link. Spread the [...]
posted on December 4th, 2009 at 10:41 pm - #21470[...] Arrestan y acusan de terrorismo a un blogger ruso por difundir rumores acerca de la gripe A [EN] [...]
posted on December 5th, 2009 at 12:12 am - #21473Ahhh, that mythical animal, Russian democracy!
posted on December 5th, 2009 at 6:07 am - #21484[...] A 22-year-old medical student and blogger was arrested in Russia this week for “spreading rumors” about swine flu in the city of Saratov. He was charged with disseminating false information related to an act of terrorism. On Wednesday, he and other Russian bloggers discussed possibilities that authorities were concealing the extent of H1N1 fatalities and that the city may soon be quarantined. The next day, he was jailed. [...]
posted on December 6th, 2009 at 4:00 pm - #21513He is not arrested, he is under suspect.
posted on December 7th, 2009 at 7:58 pm - #21562The next day, he was jailed. Is’s not true!!! Ivan is FREE! We are really orgaizin’ a campaign, but author’s got false information.
posted on December 7th, 2009 at 8:03 pm - #21563[...] Russian blogger arrested for posting rumors of pneumonic plague [...]
posted on December 8th, 2009 at 9:02 am - #21567[...] Russian Blogger Arrested For Spreading Pnuemonic Plague Rumors http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/04/russia-blogger-arrested-for-pneumonic-plague-rumor... [...]
posted on December 14th, 2009 at 8:37 am - #21626[...] http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/04/russia-blogger-arrested-for-pneumonic-plague-rumor... [...]
posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 3:37 am - #21736[...] Russian blogger arrested for posting rumors of pneumonic plague [...]
posted on January 11th, 2010 at 9:48 am - #21955The vaccine industry definitely tried to spread panic in the west and succeeded in getting their cronies in the administration to waste billions buying vaccine which most people dont want as there is widespread public scepticism and cynicism of the medical and drug industry.
posted on January 14th, 2010 at 6:08 am - #22060Now they are trying to resell unwanted vaccine to undeveloped nations. Who, it is assumed, are as dumb as they were in buying into the whole killer flu panic saga. So are not you Russians lucky at least in that you have authorities with the balls to arrest the little shit probably hired by the vaccine corporations?*Although he could be unwitting. Being too poor to afford the drugs has in this case been a good thing for Russians.
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posted on February 2nd, 2010 at 1:07 pm - #22219