A district court in Sochi has fined a local resident 1,000 rubles on an administrative charge of publicly displaying Nazi symbols. The case was flagged by the independent Russian news outlet Verstka and the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona.
According to the court ruling, the Sochi resident had posted on Telegram what the document described as the symbols of “Kotolf Kitler.” The court deemed these “Nazi paraphernalia used by the Third Reich.”
The author of the post admitted guilt and received the minimum fine.
The ruling does not specify what exactly was posted. Verstka wrote that it was likely a photograph of a cat whose facial markings resemble Adolf Hitler’s mustache and hairstyle.
Whether the post actually contained Nazi symbols is unknown. A Google search for “Kotolf Kitler” returns images of cats with no such symbols, Mediazona wrote.
There is also a satirical website, catsthatlooklikehitler.com featuring photographs of such cats. It has not been updated in several years.
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