A court in Russia's autonomous republic of Tatarstan has fined a 63-year-old woman for violating Russia's “territorial integrity” after she made an appeal on social media for people to learn the Tatar language. Ruzilya Sharafutdinova, who denied the charges, was ordered to pay 80,000 rubles ($865) for audio messages left in a chat group on Telegram that was dedicated to discussing Tatarstan and the state of learning of the Tatar language. In one audio clip, Sharafutdinova is reported to have said that the Tatar language needed to be studied at home. In court, Sharafutudinova denied calling for Tatarstan's independence or supporting secession. To read the original story from RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, click here.
