Stirlitz will not pass!

On May 23, 2011, the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory announced a number of measures, including the case of an administrative violation of Part 1 of Art. 20.3 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols), in relation to individuals, officials and the media, one way or another connected with the scandal around photographs showing Vadim Gromyko, son of Vice-Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Evgeny Gromyko.

According to Vadim Gromyko, he put on the uniform in order to shoot a comic video in which he portrays Stirlitz (video at the moment writing news lies on Youtube ). The photos were taken by his friends and posted by one of his girlfriends - Tatiana Firstkova - in the social network Vkontakte.

The photos were seen by journalists, and many media outlets wrote about this as a scandal, illustrating articles with these images.

The Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory made several representations to those who at least indirectly related to history: to the director Vyselkovsky cultural and leisure center where the uniform was rented, as well as at the same time to the head of the Vyselkovsky district of the Krasnodar region; to Rector of the Kuban State Agrarian University, where does Gromyko study; to the heads of five regional online media, reprinted these photos; to the Head of the Chief  Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory - for "failure to take timely action."

Finally, with regard to Tatyana Firstkova, who posted the photo in Internet, an administrative case was initiated.

In our opinion, all these measures are illegal.

First of all, it should be noted that this case is once again demonstrates a serious flaw in the wording of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on propaganda and demonstrating symbolism: grammatically, the phrase is constructed in such a way that it is an offense to display any relevant symbols, even without propaganda purposes. At the same time, as a matter of fact, should be punished, in our opinion, just propaganda.

It is obvious that neither Gromyko himself nor Tatyana Firstkova pursued propaganda purposes. Perhaps the joke is not very successful, but it certainly should not be the object of prosecutor's attention.

In addition, the submissions made by the prosecutor's office to other persons clearly entered at the wrong address. It would be interesting to know why cultural and leisure center uniform SS, but there is nothing illegal in issuing a suit for rent. How the rector of a university can influence the sense of humor of his student is also unclear. The media that received the performances were merely illustrating their materials, without which the meaning of what is happening would not be clear. Finally, the GUVD The Krasnodar Territory is not to blame for the failure to take measures, since there was no composition crimes.

Sources

• The son of the Kuban vice-governor Evgeny Gromyko, Vadim, was at the center of the scandal // New Newspaper. 2011. June 20.
• The son of the Kuban vice-governor was at the center of the scandal (+ video) // Living Kuban. 2011. March 18.
• Crooked faces against the mirror // Living Kuban. 2011. May 19.
• The prosecutor's office demanded to punish "Live Kuban" for publishing a photo of the vice-governor's son in a Nazi uniform // Living Kuban. 2011. May 19.
• The Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory calls on all print and electronic media to refrain from displaying Nazi paraphernalia and symbols. // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Krasnodar Territory. 2011. May 23.