Chita: anti-government leaflets recognized as extremist materials

September 15, 2011 Central District Court of Chita, having satisfied the application of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Trans-Baikal Territory, recognized leaflets "Putin is a criminal", "Chita without Mikhalev" and "Chita without Geniatulin", pasted on April 28, 2011 on the streets of the city, extremist materials.

The carried out linguistic research has seen in leaflets statements containing calls for violent change constitutional order of the Russian Federation.

Representatives of the prosecutor's office of the Trans-Baikal Territory report: " In case of repeated production and distribution of extremist materials persons who were the authors of the said leaflets and distributed them to streets of the city of Chita, their actions will be seen as signs of committing a criminal punishable act, which may lead to the initiation of criminal proceedings against them cases and the imposition of punishment up to imprisonment (Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) " .

On October 4, 2011, leaflets appeared again on the streets of Chita calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Putin, Chita Mayor Mikhalev, and Governor of the Trans-Baikal Territory Geniatulin. According to police officers, this is the tenth case of posting such materials lately.

We do not know (and are unlikely to know) the content of the data leaflets, they could well have signs of extremism, and the decision to recognize them as extremist materials may have been legitimate. However, the last paragraph of the prosecutor's report, in our opinion, added for preemptive intimidation of potential (and genuine) leaflet authors: after all, calls for a violent change in the constitutional order, even if they and are available in leaflets, are the content of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public calls for carrying out extremist activities) and the employees of the prosecutor's office know this. Article 282 can only be imputed in the event of a detected motive of hostility, which is missing in this case.

It is not thought that the indicated article number of the Criminal Code - typo. Rather, it is precisely the desire to "wag a finger", for which distorts the essence of the concept of "extremist material", and at the same time the June Resolution of the Supreme Court, which provides clarifications, is ignored regarding the application of Article.Article. 280 and 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Sources

• Anti-government leaflets posted in Chita again // Baikal Daily. 2011. May 26.
• Leaflets found on the streets of Chita were recognized as extremist // Prosecutor's Office of the Trans-Baikal Territory. Official site. 2011. September 27.
• Extremist leaflets reappear on the streets of Chita // Zabmedia.ru. 2011. October 4th.