34-years old Rostyslav Tokar was charged of spreading ‘fake manipulative information’ about Covid pandemic and vaccines on his Facebook account that could ‘impact public sentiment and inciting disorder’, said the court in its ruling.
According to media reports, the SBU, Ukraine’s security service, took the case to court, alleging Tokar shared 16 posts on social media promoting ‘misleading information’.
The local judge ruled it is an offense under the administrative offences code (art.173-1 ‘spreading gossip’- and fined Tokar 255 hryvnas (about $9).
It is worth noting the offender ran an unsuccessful campaign for his hometown council in 2020 as a ‘Servant of the People’ party candidate.