Jailed Russian Blogger Gets Additional Prison Term

By RFE/RL

January 23, 2015

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- A court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has sentenced a local blogger to 18 months in jail for insulting an official and making a false legal complaint on the Internet.

The judge also ruled on January 22 that Sergei Reznik has no right to work as a journalist in print or online for two years after his release.

Reznik, who has already sentenced to 18 months in jail in November 2013 on similar charges, was expected to be released from jail in May.

His jail term has now been extended until November 2016.

Reznik denies all charges, saying that both cases against him are politically motivated.

His lawyer, Tumas Misian, said the sentence will be appealed.

In October 2013, Reznik survived an attack by unknown assailants who severely beat him with a baseball bat and shot him before disappearing.

The attackers have never been found.