Blogger Charged With Threatening To Kill Sen. Lieberman

By JTA August 10, 2011

The FBI has charged a Philadelphia blogger with threatening to shoot Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

Dmitry Dyatlov, 23, was charged Tuesday for making the threat on his blog against Lieberman (I-Conn.). He was arrested Aug. 2, and bail was set at $500,000. According to reports, Dyatlov would be under house arrest in his apartment until a system was set up to electronically monitor his computer.

Dyatlov, who came to the U.S. from Uzbekistan in 1998 and now holds U.S. citizenship, admitted to writing the blog when police came to his home. According to the affidavit filed by the FBI, Dyatlov told the federal agents that he hated Lieberman, and though he had no intention of carrying out his posted threats, he would not care if someone killed the senator.

His blog post read:

“Rammstein Concerts: Better than killing Jews.” One of my buddies called it an almost ‘religious’ experience in high school. Why Not? Actually, there is, at least, one Jew, who we absolutely must shoot in the face (many times), ASAP: Joe Lieberman. “3 reasons:

“1. Liberal

“2. Doesn’t like Marilyn Manson (or Eminem)

“3. Someone put this retard on the ‘Security’ committee, OMG WE’RE F***|ED”

Lieberman is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He ran for vice president in 2000 – the first Jewish candidate on a major presidential ticket.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO