“The justice of the peace in Lipetsk ruled in the case of an administrative offense under Part 9 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russia “Abuse of Freedom of the Media,” RIA Novosti reports.
As noted, the woman in the WhatsApp chat spread false information about the allegedly concealment by the authorities of the region of the real number of patients with coronavirus.
The woman said that in the WhatsApp group, she saw three messages from one of the users about the coronavirus, which she copied and posted in the chat.
“In the court it was decided to impose a penalty in the form of an administrative fine in the amount of 15 thousand rubles,” the press service added.
Earlier in Tatarstan, a resident of Nizhnekamsk was held administratively liable for spreading false messages through the messenger about the alleged closure of the city to quarantine due to COVID-19.
As the chairman of the State Duma committee on state building and legislation, Pavel Krasheninnikov, noted, the Criminal Code of Russia will be amended to punish fakes in connection with coronavirus.