MOSCOW, April 23 (RAPSI) – Investigators are to consider if a criminal case needs to be launched over a YouTube video publication falsely alleging that organs are harvested from coronavirus patients for sale, the press-service of Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office informs on Thursday.

The materials have been transferred to investigators, so they could decide if criminal prosecution is to be initiated for public dissemination of knowingly false information about circumstances threatening lives and safety of citizens; the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office is to monitor the situation, the statement reads.

The falsehood of the video published on YouTube alleging that patients’ organs are harvested for sale under the guise of medical treatment of COVID-19 disease has been proved in the course of an inspection on the part of the Moscow Prosecutor’s Office.

At the same time, the oversight authority detected a comment published on VKontakte social network urging to physically exterminate residents of the town of Penza, who failed to comply with quarantine measures; after examination of the call by an expert of the Penza regional Criminal Expertise Center of Russia’s Interior Ministry, it was defined as a call for extremism.