KRANODAR, Russia -- A Russian activist in the southern region of Krasnodar went on trial on September 3 on charges of propagating extremism and separatism via the Internet.
Darya Polyudova was indicted in August 2014, becoming the first person in Russia to be charged under a law criminalizing calls for separatism on the Internet which came into force in May last year.
In a statement posted on the Internet, Polyudova, 26, called for a march to demand the "federalization of Kuban" in response to Moscow's repeated calls to federalize neighboring Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists has killed more than 6,400 people since April 2014.
Kuban is an alternative name for several regions in Russia's North Caucasus, including Krasnodar.