MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – Russian socialite-turned-political activist Ksenia Sobchak said Monday that investigators had called her in for questioning regarding online insults to lawmakers who had backed anti-gay legislation.
Last week, investigators opened a criminal case into online materials that were posted between May and June and contained public insults to federal parliament members Yelena Mizulina and Olga Batalina. The two lawmakers had made headlines for backing Russia’s ban on promoting non-traditional sexual relations to minors.
Insulting a state official is a crime in Russia, punishable with a fine of up to a $1,000 as well as community service.
“Called by the Investigative Committee and summoned for questioning over the Mizulina insult case,” Sobchak said Monday on Twitter. “What will I face if I sincerely consider Mizulina a present-day member of the Inquisition?”
Mizulina, who chairs the children’s issues committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, has been an outspoken supporter and co-author of the controversial federal legislation banning the promotion of gay relationships toward minors as well as the country’s ban on adoptions of Russian children by foreign same-sex couples.
