A youth activist in Russia's Tatarstan region is being tried on terror-related charges over a social-media post praising the killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida last year.
The Volga Regional Military Court in the city of Samara started hearing Ramil Ibragimov's case on January 30.
Ibragimov, the head of Tatarstan's Union of the Young Leaders of Innovations, was charged with "public calls for terrorism and justifying terrorist activities" over a June 14 Instagram post supporting the killing of people it referred to as "fags."
In very vulgar language, the post expressed regret that dozens of injured people who survived the shooting "did not croak."
The post came two days after Omar Mateen, an American with Afghan roots, fatally shot 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Mateen, who was killed by police at the scene, pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State (IS) during the attack.
In his Instagram post, Ibragimov called Mateen "a straight Afghan fella."
