All prohibit

* * Forbid everything. The Law “On Combating Extremist Activities” is traditionally used to persecute radical Islamists, Russian nationalists, as well as left and liberal opposition. But now he unexpectedly became a scourge for provincial librarians and Jehovists. As a federal list of extremist materials, the Ministry of Justice can incorporate the entire information space - The New Times sorted out
“Not so long ago, an extremist appeared in our area. He came from Moscow and began to engage in natural farming. He said that his name is Dobroslav and he is the head of all pagans of Russia, ”said the New Times, the deputy director for scientific work of the Kirov Regional Scientific Library named after A.I. Herzen Svetlana Budashkin. “This Dobroslav published his books, and his associates brought them to our library.”

Neither to issue or withdraw in 2007 the district court of the city of Kirov recognized the four books of Dobroslav as extremist. Representatives of the prosecutor's office invited librarians to remove them from the library. But they refused: according to the laws “On Library Affairs” and “On Compulsory Monk”, books cannot be removed. The names of these books were excluded from electronic and card catalogs, but the books themselves remained in the funds. A year later, an employee of the local FSB came to the library under the guise of the reader. He asked to give him several books of Dobroslav. He was shown five books that were meaning in the file cabinet, which were not recognized as extremist, and let him see one of them. After that, the Prosecutor's Office of the Leninsky district Kirov sent a submission to the library to the leadership. Directors warned that the library contributes to the mass distribution of extremist literature and an employee who issued the books of the chief pagan of Russia should be held accountable.

“According to the law, extremist activity is only the mass distribution of prohibited materials. The material becomes forbidden (extremist) after the court decision enters into force, ”explains Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the SOVA information and analytical center. - The court decision is made at the place of detection of the material, and not all librarians know about it. Therefore, there is a federal list of extremist materials. ”

The list as evidence on July 14, 2007, when the list appeared on the Ministry of Justice’s website, it had 14 names, now there are 694 material. And these are not only printed texts, books, brochures, leaflets, these are video materials, musical works, pictures in JPG format and messages from Internet forums.

As the New Times explained in the Ministry of Justice’s press service, local courts send them their decisions, which are simply included in the list. And even if there are repetitions there, the courts also do not always know about each other's decisions, the Ministry of Justice does not correct anything: he simply mechanically leads this list.

Pursuit of community members of witnesses
Jehovah in the regions resemble persecution
on religious dissidents of Soviet times

“The federal list of extremist materials should be canceled,” says Alexander Verkhovsky. - This is a monstrous document that cannot be understood. Nobody is oriented in it. In principle, it cannot serve as a source of restriction, because it is wildly long and slurred. Normal citizens cannot understand what is prohibited and what is not. For example, the list has more than 300 (!) Materials under the name 13 NG.jpg; 14s.jpg; 1376008zi8.jpg. Moreover, there is no effective mechanism for the fight against the spread of really harmful publications. For example, the book is prohibited, and if it is published under a different name, this is another book. And she is not on the list. ”

But for law enforcement agencies, the list is not only understandable, but also a very useful document. “Prosecutor's checks in libraries are fertile grounds for the reporting of anti -exploration law,” Elena Strukova told The New Times, the factory press of the historical library. - You can easily understand the logic of district prosecutors: catching extremists in the library is more convenient than on the street. The scheme is simple: the prosecutor comes to the library and takes the director a warning. Either there is no updated list of the Ministry of Justice, or there are some prohibited books in the library funds. As a rule, librarians are quiet people, they do not sue prosecutors. Although those who serve win. ”

The reader from the EC center in April 2010, the Ulyanovsk Regional Court removed all charges with the acting Director of the Ulyanovsk Scientific Library of Elena Chechenva. She was accused of the fact that the forbidden books of the Islamic theologian Said Nursi “Faith and Man” were stored in the library funds. But in court it turned out that the library stored other books of this author, which were not recognized as extremist. “We defended our case in court,” said Olga Kucherova, deputy director of the library. - These books were completely in demand. Only two people asked them all the time. One of them turned out to be an employee of the ED center (Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation) to combat extremism.

Since the law on counteracting extremism is not linked with the Law on Library Affairs, it is possible to remove the book, say, from the subject catalog, and not to give it out, for example, experts for scientific work, it is impossible. What librarians do, just in case, demanding a receipt with readers that they are aware of the extremist nature of the book.

Corruption instruction “To somehow streamline this situation, the Ministry of Culture has developed instructions for libraries. We sent her to coordinate to the Ministry of Justice, ”Elena Strukova told The New Times. - In April 2010, the Ministry of Justice refused us in agreement. In the instructions, employees of the ministry discovered "corruption signs." It turns out, before sending the instructions to the Ministry of Justice, we did not agree on her with the Ministry of Justice (!). In addition, according to officials, the Ministry of Culture has no right to develop instructions for libraries. As a result of this absurd history, libraries still do not have a clear understanding of how to work with the federal list. And prosecutor's inspections are ongoing. ”

From the beginning of 2010 alone, it is known about hundreds of warnings issued to libraries in the Orenburg, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk and other areas.

Religious “extremists” recently from the notorious list of extremist materials have been suffered not only by librarians, but also by believers. If earlier it was a question of Muslim organizations, then recently human rights activists drew attention to repression against Jehovah's Witnesses.

“Anti -extremist legislation is used in the clericalization of the Russian state,” Lev Levinson, an expert of the Institute of Freedom of Conscience. - The persecution of members of Jehovah's witnesses in the regions resembles persecution of religious dissidents of the Soviet era. Then Jehovahs did not have official status and could not register their communities. In 1990, they received this right. ” The only Jehovah's community prohibited by the court is Moscow. It was liquidated by decision of the Moscow City Court in 2004. But on June 10, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights recognized Russia as a violator of the article on freedom of conscience and ruled that the right to a fair court was violated in the case of the Moscow community. So this ban should be revised. Lev Levinson believes that repressions towards representatives of this religious association are associated with its number: this is one of the largest religious associations of non -traditional Christianity. In Russia - about 150 thousand Jehovahors. “On December 8, 2010, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Rostov court on the recognition of 34 books and magazines published by Jehovah,” says Levinson. - This one decision was enough to start a persecution for the distribution of literature on this list on this list on the scale of the whole country. The list was expanded by the decision of the Gorno-Altai Court. ”

According to the Center for SOVA, in different regions of Russia a real hunt for Jehovahs was announced: only in the spring of 2010 more than 150 detentions of believers were drawn. They were accompanied by searches, inspection of personal belongings and cars. They searched for religious literature. Jehovists say that their phones are listening, they are monitoring.

The hand of Moscow Yaroslav Sivulsky, a member of the leading committee of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, is sure that the persecution of its co -religionists in different regions is coordinated from Moscow.

At the disposal of The New Times there is a copy of the official telegram, which on July 2, 2010, the Presidential Presidential Representative in the Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko sent six governors-Kurgan, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk regions, Khanty-Mansi and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs.

“I inform you that the facts of the active activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious organization continue to be noted in the Ural Federal District. According to experts, this religious current is a totalitarian sect, whose activity is a danger to the physical and spiritual health of its adherents. ”

Nikolai Vinnichenko asks the governors to carry out explanatory work with the heads of medical, educational and sports institutions and prohibit them with “any forms of cooperation with Jehovah”, as well as counteract “the destructive activity of Jehovah's Witnesses”.

It is not known whether the governor of the Altai Republic received a similar telegram, but it was in Gorno-Altaysk in 2010 that a Jehovah's criminal case was first instructed under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the excitement of religious hatred and enmity). “The leader of the local community of Alexander Kalistratov was accused of distributing literature, which at that time was considered legal, and at present, according to the decisions of the Rostov and Horman-Altai courts, it was recognized as extremist,” lawyer Viktor Zhenkov told The New Times.

The investigator saw signs of excitement of religious hatred and enmity in quotes that were included in the indictment. For example: “The service in the Soviet Army was mandatory for young men of the age of 18. Based on the knowledge of the Bible, I decided to adhere to the world affairs at all costs, which meant a rejection of service in the Soviet Army ”(an article in the magazine“ Awaken! ”On October 22, 2000). The publication was prohibited by the courts as extremist. As Alexander Verkhovsky notes, anti -extremist legislation is formulated in obviously very wide and indefinite terms. This allows in practice any comparative assessment to interpret as an assertion of superiority, excitement of hatred, etc. While these norms are used selectively: otherwise everything will have to be banned.