The elder ordered

It seems that any hope that the notorious amendments to the law on the FSB, allowing state security officers to issue warnings to those suspected of extremism, will not be adopted, has collapsed. The International Memorial Society issued a statement saying: “We have absolutely no illusions about the fate of this bill: there is no doubt that on July 16 the Duma will approve it in the third reading. However, we have no reason to doubt the legal competence of the head of state. And we do not lose hope that when this law, partly meaningless and partly dangerous for public freedom, comes to the President of the Russian Federation for signature, he will evaluate it properly and veto it.” However, President Dmitry Medvedev at a press conference in Yekaterinburg as part of the 10th St. Petersburg Dialogue stated that he was the initiator of introducing these amendments to the Duma. “Every country has the right to improve its legislation, including in relation to intelligence services,” he said. “And we will do it.”

Memorial clarified in a statement that “theoretically, crime prevention is a completely noble and humane task: stopping a person who is on the verge of committing criminal acts, explaining to him the possible consequences of his actions and thereby preventing a crime - much better than sending him to jail. <...> However, attempts to legally regulate preventive work are obviously pointless. <...> If <...> a “warning” is regulated by law, if a “legal” mechanism for this warning is formalized, then it inevitably becomes what the Decree of December 25, 1972 actually was – an instrument of political intimidation.”

Human rights activists, however, do not give up hope that they will still be able to put an obstacle in the way of the adoption of the amendments: the movement “For Human Rights” is calling on the Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov, whose party “A Just Russia”, along with other parliamentary opposition parties, did not support the bill , do not accept amendments. “Today, it is up to you,” human rights activists write to Mironov and the Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation, Alexei Alexandrov, “that it largely depends on whether the adoption of a law that destroys the cornerstone principles of law will be stopped: the presumption of innocence and legal certainty, recognition of individual rights and freedoms.” You can subscribe to the appeal

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