The Moscow prosecutor received the NEPS examination in the Pussy Riot case

June 21, 2012 at the meeting of the Public Council under the Prosecutor of Moscow, representatives of the Working Group on civic participation and legal reform of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation (NEPS) on the development of civil society and human rights were awarded to the Prosecutor of Moscow Sergey Kudeneev's opinion on the case of bringing to criminal responsibility of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the members of the group "Pussy Riot".

NEPS expert Yuri Kostanov investigated decision of the investigator A. Ranchenkov to bring Tolokonnikova to liability for hours. 2 Article. 213 of the Criminal Code, and also analyzed the lyrics, performed by the group during the "punk prayer", and came to the following conclusions.

Text of the decision investigator does not meet the requirements of the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, which makes the decision on bringing Tolokonnikova as a defendant unlawful. In particular, the accusation in actions motivated by religious hatred and enmity are not confirmed facts (" Judging by the text of the song they performed, hostility (and possibly hatred) to V. V. Putin and V. M. Gundyaev is not of a religious nature , "but" A shocking way of expressing one's views in itself is not a manifestation of hatred for the Christian (as well as any other) religion "). The desire attributed to N. Tolokonnikova to humiliate Christians, express disrespect to them, etc. and encroach on the sacramentality of the church sacraments ... "is not supported by facts." Only a very developed imagination can from the description of the punk-prayer performed by the defendants to draw a conclusion about their global intention to undermine the foundations of the Christian Church and, moreover, spiritual foundations of the state ," concludes Kostanov. In addition, Tolokonnikova's accusation of committing a crime" motivated by hatred towards any social groups " is illegal because this social group is not named. Expert also notes the excessive ideologization of the resolution, which violates the principle separation of church from state and equality of confessions.

" Actions, charged with Tolokonnikova, Samutsevich and Alyokhina, although unconditionally are reproachable, but ... do not contain the composition of criminally punishable hooliganism. Till December 2011, these actions are possible and could   would qualify as an insult to V.V. Putin and V.M. Gundyaev, however, after December last year, this became impossible - in December 2011 insult was decriminalized: in accordance with federal law dated 7 December 2011 No. 420-FZ Article 131 (Insult) of the Criminal Code has become invalid ," writes Yu. Kostanov.

Expert NEPS also concluded that Tolokonnikova's accusation was based on assumption and is not supported by the facts, criminal liability for "contrasting oneself Orthodox world" is not provided for by the current Russian legislation, and the use of the term "Orthodoxy" as a synonym for the word "Christianity" is permissible only if it is not accompanied by the belittling of other Christian denominations.

Sources

• Expert opinion of the NEPS expert on the case of criminal prosecution of one of the members of the group "Pussy Riot" // Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the development of civil society and human rights. 2012. June 22.