Links below
The Russian publication pravda.ru published an article titled "Can criminal punishment for blogging be possible in Russia?" in which they mention Dan's case. They discuss how internet free speech is not just a topic of discussion in Russia, but also in the United States. And, they seem to suggest that Dan's prison sentence was more harsh than those seen in Russia for similar offenses. As an American, I am embarrassed that our Russian friends are reading anything that gives the impression that Russian speech is more free than our own. It's not. It's true, however, when judicial processes are abused and law is manipulated for punitive purposes, our collective reputation suffers. From the family court judge who took two little girls' father away for the sole purpose of punishing their father, to the prosecutor who trumped up ridiculous criminal charges against an internet blogger with no criminal history, to the $600,000 bond, to the "lost" courthouse records, to the anonymous jury, to the five year prison sentence, to the State Attorney General's office simply lying in court briefs, to judges trying to protect the reputations of their own; it should embarrass us all.
Not to get too much into Russian politics, but there is a response to this article from a website titled Dying Russia, that claims that the author of the above article is lying. Unfortunately, Dying Russia gets their facts wrong. And they get their facts wrong because Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard manufactured his own literal meanings of a couple of rhetorical phrases from over two years worth of a blogger's writings. It is shameful that a vindictive and manipulative county prosecutor like Negangard is responsible for misinformation that prevents honest intellectual discussions of internet free speech, not only in our own country, but all over the world.
-Matt Brewington
Link to pravda.ru article
Link to Dying Russia post
Link to pravda.ru article in Russian
Sue Brewington responded to the 2nd article that said with the following; "Mr. Brewington never threatened to set the judge on fire. He made a generalized statement on his private facebook page that "this is like playing with gas and fire, and anyone who has seen me with gas and fire know that I'm quite the accomplished pyromaniac." This quote was in reference to the volatility of the family court system in the United States. The State started with this statement and built it into a threat that Mr. Brewington was going to somehow cause harm to the judge with fire. Mr. Brewington never issued any threats except to tell the truth about what was happening in the Indiana family court system. Mr. Brewington is most definitely in prison because he criticized the Indiana court system, a judge and a psychologist, but hopefully the Indiana Supreme Court will overturn the lower court ruling."Sue Brewington
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