Translated material
The Moscow City Duma held hearings on the problems of combating “sects”
On March 24, the Moscow City Duma held parliamentary hearings on the problems of counteracting "totalitarian sects." Lyudmila Stebenkova, chairman of the Duma commission on public health and public health, said during the hearing that "there are now about 30 satanic groups in Moscow, whose members are more than two thousand people. These groups represent about 20 different directions." According to Interfax, the audience came to the unanimous opinion that the actions of the "sectarians" often contain elements of a crime under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (213th ("Hooliganism"), 214th ("Vandalism"), 243rd ( "Destruction or damage to historical and cultural monuments"), 244th ("Desecration of the bodies of the dead and places of their burial"), 245th ("cruel treatment of animals") and some others), and the "sects" themselves fall under the operation of Articles 239 ("Organization of an association infringing on the person and rights of citizens") and 282-1 ("Organization of an extremist community").
In addition, representatives of a number of religious organizations present at the hearings (the head of the Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Non-traditional Religions, Orthodox priest Oleg Stenyaev, the head of the Magen League, Rabbi Alexander Lakshin, and member of the RMC Nafigulla Ashirov) called for a ban on the use by "sects" of the symbols of "traditional religions." This was reported to journalists by the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Mikhail Moskvin-Tarkhanov. “Recently, we have faced a big problem when totalitarian sects and various occult groups hide behind the symbols of traditional religions. For example, on their flyers you can find crosses, crescents, stars of David. Using these symbols, they attract unsuspecting people their networks," he said.
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