Expert opinions on the Russian practice of recognizing religious texts as extremist

On May 18, 2011, a round table was held in Moscow on the problem of unmotivated recognition of Islamic religious extremist and its inclusion in the federal list of extremist materials Ministry of Justice.

The round table was jointly organized by the Council for Islamic Education, Moscow Islamic University and the Foundation for the Support of Islamic Culture and Science and education. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General's Office, media, religious organizations.

TV presenter Maxim Shevchenko expressed his attitude to the problem. In his opinion, with extremism is more effectively combated not through the compilation of lists, but through "public condemnation of radical opinions” and “marginalization of extremist views”.

Member  of the Scientific Advisory Council under the Ministry of Justice, Alikber Alikberov called for dividing actually religious texts from “texts and materials of political directions calling for the overthrow of the state system of Russia.

Main editor of the journal "Religion and Law", Professor of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Anatoly Pchelintsev recalled about the problem of conducting a religious examination of texts, in particular, related with the absence of full-time religious scholars in the Federal Center for Forensic Expertise.

Leonid Sukiyainen, a specialist in Islamic law, proposed to evaluate the general the nature of the text, and not individual phrases torn out from the context, and as criteria for recognizing materials as extremist, put forward the following:

- the presence in the texts of intent (rather than a careless phrase),

- the presence of a call to violence;

- violation of the rights and freedoms of a person as a citizen (and not as a believer).

IN as a result of the meeting, the participants voiced the following proposals: “to translate the decision issues [recognizing texts as extremist] from the competence of district courts on the level of the courts of the subjects of the federation, to develop uniform criteria for assessing materials and a unified research methodology, introduce full-time religious scholars into structures of forensic examination at the regional level, to introduce a mandatory Licensing of Institutions Carrying out Expertise”.

Sources

• "Extremist List" // Islam in the Russian Federation. 2011. May 19.