Police in Arkhangelsk have launched a criminal case against a 19-year-old man on the grounds that he directed hate speech at atheists.

According to investigators, the teenager posted a comment in August 2014 on the “wall” of a community hosted on the social network Vkontakte, where he expressed “derogatory” and “negative” evaluations of a number of religious groups, as well as atheists, which police identify as a protected “social group.”

Violating Article 282, Section 1, of Russia's criminal code, which prohibits hate speech, carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.