Johan Backman

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Bäckman 2009 in Helsinki

Johan Bäckman (born May 18, 1971 ) is a Finnish legal sociologist , political activist and book author who is considered a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin .

Political activities

Johan Bäckman argues that the journalist Anna Politkowskaja , who was murdered in 2006, commissioned her own murder.

In 2013 he represented the organization "Narodny Sobor" in custody disputes of Russian citizens in Finland.

After the Crimean crisis , Bäckman appeared in 2014 in the controversial referendum on the status of Crimea as an election observer and assessed the referendum as "absolutely legitimate within the framework of international law".

According to an article in the New York Times in May 2016, Bäckman is mostly in Moscow . He is featured in Russian media as a "human rights defender" and also appears as a representative of the Donetsk People's Republic . For example, in 2014 he announced that an embassy of the People's Republic would be opened in Helsinki .

Bäckman is the Northern European spokesman for the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS). It is a think tank established by President Putin and financed by Russia to represent the interests of the Kremlin in Finland, Bulgaria, France and Turkey. According to the Finnish broadcaster Yleisradio , the RISS maintains contacts with Russian secret services.

Investigation and prosecution

In connection with research by the Finnish press on the manipulation of pro-Russian opinions on the Internet by the “ troll army ” of the Russian state, Bäckman presented the investigation as an attempt to suppress the freedom of expression of pro-Russian Finns. He claimed that the Russian Federation itself was the target of a disinformation campaign by "the West". The investigative Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro was denounced by Bäckman as a “well-known helper of American and Baltic secret services” in the Russian media. Aro had written an article in September 2014 about how Russia is influencing public opinion in Finland through active measures and the use of troll networks. One day after her article was published, Bäckman accused her, among other things, of compiling an illegal database of Putin supporters in Finland. As a result, she was defamed and massively harassed on the Internet. Backman was one of the main participants in the campaign against Aro.

In 2016, the police opened an investigation into the case. On March 26, 2018, the Helsinki Prosecutor brought charges against Bäckman. He is accused of badly defamed and molested Aro from 2014 to 2016. His goal was to influence Aro's work.

On October 18, 2018, the charges against Bäckman and Ilja Janitskin, the operators and founders of a right-wing pro-Russian website, were upheld. Bäckman was found guilty of defamation and stalking and received a one year suspended prison sentence while Janitskin was sentenced to 22 months in prison and has to pay € 136,000 in compensation to Aro.

Web links

Commons : Johan Bäckman  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Andrew Higgins: "Effort to Expose Russia's 'Troll Army' Draws Vicious Retaliation" New York Times, May 10, 2015
  2. ^ A b Benjamin Bidder : "Crimean referendum: Putin's apparent victory" SPON from March 16, 2014
  3. ^ "Russian NGO Narodny Sobor threatens to boycott Finnish goods and services" helsinkitimes.fi of February 14, 2013
  4. ↑ "Greens set to re-consider Nato position" helsinkitimes.fi of April 28, 2014
  5. ↑ "Finland and Sweden could vote on Nato membership in 2018, Russian research center claims" helsinkitimes.fi of March 17, 2016
  6. ↑ a b c Nick Miller: Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro's inquiry into Russian trolls stirs up a hornet's nest . In: The Sydney Morning Herald , March 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Johan Bäckmania vastaan ​​nostettu syyte Ylen toimittajan vainoamisesta ja törkeästä kunnianloukkauksesta . In: Yle , March 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ Bojan Pancevski: Victim declares war on Putin's fake news trolls . In: The Times , January 29, 2017.
  9. ↑ Why Is Finland Able to Fend Off Putin's Information War? In: Foreign Policy , March 1, 2017.
  10. ^ Controversial academic charged over harassment, slander of Yle journalist . In: Yle , March 26, 2018.
  11. ^ Court in Finland finds pro-Kremlin trolls guilty of harassing journalist . In: Deutsche Welle , October 18, 2018.
  12. ↑ Finn jailed for 22 months over pro-Russian hate campaign . In: BBC , October 18, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Backman, Johan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish legal sociologist, political activist and book author
DATE OF BIRTH 18th May 1971