Is criticism of government officials extremism?

On June 14, 2006, amendments to the law "On Counteracting Extremist Activity" were submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The initiators of the amendments (14 State Duma deputies from all five factions) proposed extending the concept of "extremism" to public criticism and slander against government representatives.

Parliamentarians propose to attribute to extremism "obstruction of the lawful activities of state authorities" in combination with "violence or the threat of its use" and "public slander against persons holding a public position in the Russian Federation or a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, combined with the accusation of this person of committing a grave or especially grave crime " .

On June 15, 2006, State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said that criticism of the government can be considered unconstitutional only if it contains calls for the overthrow of the government by force. According to Gryzlov, the amendments can be adopted as early as the spring session, and criticism of the authorities "within the framework of the law" will not fall under the definition of "extremist activity" and will not entail criminal liability.

Sources

• The State Duma will define extremism // Grani.Ru. 2006. June 14.
• Gryzlov: Usual criticism of the authorities is not extremism // IA Rosbalt. 2006. June 15.