Popular Wikipedia author Mark Bernstein arrested for 15 days

March 14, BPN. Mark Bernstein, 56, an IT specialist who is a contributor to the Wikipedia.org online encyclopedia and one of the top 50 authors in the Russian language Wikipedia segment, was arrested for 15 days for “disobedience to a lawful order or demand of an official in the exercise of his authority” (article 24.3 of the Administrative Code).

Bernstein was detained on March 11 by employees of Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption. According to human rights defenders he was arrested at the request of the Russian Federal Security Service. The picture of the detainee was posted along with the caption “This man is spreading fake anti-Russian content.”

On March 10, 2022, the Russian pro-government Telegram channel Mrakoborets published the personal data of Bernstein, a native and resident of Minsk, accusing him of violating Russia’s new law on publishing fake news. The channel claimed that Bernstein’s edits to Wikipedia articles about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine violated a new law that provides for up to 15 years in prison.