2021-10-30: Ward, Bobiyev, and Chistova                      rak
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Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Mike
Ward [0,1] in a high-profile freedom of speech case. A decade
ago, Ward mocked a disable child singer (a minor celebrity) in a
comedy routine. The child's family filed a human rights
complaint in the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal alleging
discrimination and was awarded $35k in damages against Ward. The
Quebec Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, until the SCC
overturned it yesterday. In short: it is still legal to mock the
disabled in Canada, their feelings be damned.

Yesterday, a Moscow court sentenced Ruslan Bobiyev and his
girlfriend Anastasia Chistova to ten months in a penal colony
for insulting religious feelings [3]. Their offence: taking a
picture in front of St Basil's cathedral with Chistova on her
knees simulating oral sex.

[0] https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/19046/index.do
[1] https://nationalpost.com/opinion/why-the-supreme-court-ruled-comedian-mike-ward-is-free-to-mock-disabled-teen-excerpt
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59015486
[3] https://tass.ru/proisshestviya/12799641

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