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		</div><p><img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c403fcdfa4435d510448c4f1eee6d8b28bfefd4f/0_514_3200_1920/master/3200.jpg?w=620&;q=55&;auto=format&;usm=12&;fit=max&;s=c5d411a5ead9384f5d4cd8844e47e5c5" alt="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c403fcdfa4435d510448c4f1eee6d8b28bfefd4f/0_514_3200_1920/master/3200.jpg?w=620&;q=55&;auto=format&;usm=12&;fit=max&;s=c5d411a5ead9384f5d4cd8844e47e5c5" width="640" height="384" /><br />
<span style="font-size:x-small;"><i>Photo: Lawrence Manning/Corbis </i></span><br />
<i><span style="color:#674ea7;"><span style="font-size:large;">&#8216;Posecution under controversial 2013 law introduced after Pussy Riots incident</span></span></i><br />
<i> <span style="color:#674ea7;"><span style="font-size:large;">Accused of ‘offending the sentiments of Orthodox believers’</span></span></i><br />
<span style="color:#674ea7;"><span style="font-size:large;"><i> Denied the existence of God during webchat&#8217; </i></span></span><br />
<a name="more"></a><b>Russian atheist faces a year in prison after denying the existence of God during an online exchange. </b><br />
Viktor Krasnov, 38, who appeared in court Wednesday, is being prosecuted under a controversial 2013 law that was introduced after punk art group Pussy Riots was jailed for a performance in Moscow’s main cathedral, his lawyer Andrei Sabinin told AFP.<br />
The charges – which carry a maximum one-year jail sentence – centre on an Internet exchange that Krasnov was involved in in 2014 on a humorous local website in his hometown of Stavropol.</p>
<p>“If I say that the collection of Jewish fairytales entitled the Bible is complete bullshit, that is that. At least for me,” Krasnov wrote, adding later “there is no God!”<br />
One of the young people involved in the dispute with Krasnov then lodged a complaint against him accusing him of “offending the sentiments of Orthodox believers”.<br />
Krasnov, whose case began last month, spent one month in a psychiatric ward last year undergoing psychiatric examinations before he was finally deemed to be sane.<br />
Krasnov’s lawyer insisted to AFP that his client was “simply an atheist” and that he had taken aim at both “Halloween and yiddish holidays” in the same exchange.</p>
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