We reproduce the text of Amnesty International's Urgent Action below:

'Shop assistant Ekaterina Vologzheninova is facing trial on 27 October for "inciting hatred and enmity" against the Russian government and Russians fighting in eastern Ukraine. The charges stem from her posts on social media criticizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Russia’s involvement in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. 

'Ekaterina Vologzheninova, a shop assistant from Ekaterinburg, in the Urals Region, Russian Federation, will be standing trial on 27 October for “publicly inciting hatred or enmity as well as denigrating human dignity”. The charges against her stem from her posts on the Russian social media site VKontakte criticizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Russia’s involvement in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. During 2014, Ekaterina Vologzheninova reposted content from several publications, films, texts and images relating to the situation in Ukraine, on her VKontakte social media account. Several of these publications were critical of Russia’s annexation of Crimea (this annexation is in violation of the international law), and of Russia’s involvement in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. Her account is only accessible by her registered friends. 

'On 12 December 2014, her apartment was searched by law enforcement officials and she was taken to the police station for questioning. She then learned that a criminal case against her had been opened for “publicly inciting hatred or enmity as well as denigrating human dignity” (Article 282, part 1 of the Russian Criminal Code). If convicted, she will face up to five years’ imprisonment. During the investigation of her case, the authorities solicited “psycholinguistic expertise” to analyse her postings and questioned her colleagues and other acquaintances in an attempt to prove that her motivation had been specifically to incite hatred. The investigation concluded that Ekaterina Vologzheninova’s intention by criticizing the government’s policies online (with only her friends) had been to incite hatred against the Russian government, and Russians fighting in eastern Ukraine. In late September 2015 the case was forwarded to the Zheleznodorozhnyi Court in Ekaterinburg. The trial is expected to start on 27 October.'

Amnesty International urges people to write immediately in Russian, English or your own language: