Russian court fines inmates for writing the word 'fart' — it's prison slang for 'luck,' but now it's illegal
A Russian court in Buryatia fined two inmates for writing the word 'fart' (meaning luck in prison slang) on postcards, deeming it a symbol of the extremist AUE movement.
A court in Buryatia has fined two inmates for writing the word "fart" and the phrase "With a Convict's Respect" on postcards. Each inmate was ordered to pay a fine of 1,000 rubles (approximately $13).
According to court rulings, inmates Sambu Radnabazarov and Alexander Goncharov were practicing their handwriting when they wrote these words. Officials from the Federal Penitentiary Service deemed the inscriptions as displaying symbols of an "extremist organization."
Both inmates pleaded guilty. The rulings stated: "He did not understand what the words meant. He now understands and no longer uses these expressions."
AUE stands for "Arestantsky Uklad Edin" ("the Convict Order is United") or "Arestantskoe Urkaganskoe Edinstvo" ("Convict-Thug Unity"). It refers to a subculture that transplants prison rules into teenagers' daily lives. In 2020, Russia's Supreme Court labeled it an "extremist organization" and banned it.
According to Verstka, Russian courts previously considered the slang word "fart" (meaning "a stroke of luck") as connected to AUE only when it appeared in specific slogans such as "fartu masti" or "fartu masti AUE!" — phrases drawn from criminal jargon that wish good luck on the criminal world.
This case highlights the application of Russia's extremism laws to prison slang.
