They want to recognize the “Good Truth Machine” leaflet as extremist

On August 6, 2012, the Vologda prosecutor's office announced that it had sent a statement of claim to the court to recognize as extremist material a layout of a leaflet generated by Alexei Navalny's website allegedly on behalf of the United Russia party as part of the DMP opposition campaign.

The material contains the text “Please note that residents of those regions that have shown a high level of support for our party and National Leader Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin pay utility bills at significantly lower tariffs” and a table showing that in regions where for “United Russia” more than 90% of the population voted, the cost of housing and communal services is significantly lower than in other regions (including the Vologda region).

The inspection was carried out on the instructions of the First Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, made after a request from the former governor of the Vologda region, and now State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Pozgalev, who demanded an assessment of Navalny’s actions.

According to the prosecutor's office, the leaflet contains deliberately false information about its imaginary publisher and about the relationship between the growth rates of housing and communal services tariffs in certain regions and the number of people who voted for United Russia in the State Duma elections.

“In addition, the information contained in the leaflet is aimed at inciting hostility and ethnic hatred between residents of various constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and also contributes to the formation of intolerance towards residents of the republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Mordovia,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The term “national leader” unexpectedly attracted the attention of law enforcement officers. The prosecutor's office quotes an expert opinion, according to which “in the formulation of the statement, psychological techniques were used that emphasize the nationalist orientation of the subject of the appeal: V.V. Putin is called “National Leader” (not a state leader, not a party leader); both words in this expression are written with a capital letter , which enhances the perception of its significance; the expression “our party” in conjunction with the expression “National Leader” indicates opposition to other political and national groups."

The prosecutor's office saw in the actions of the persons who posted the leaflet online signs of a crime under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity), and sent materials to the Investigative Committee for the Vologda Region for inspection.

Sources

• The former Vologda governor asks the Prosecutor General's Office to punish Navalny // SeverInfo. 2012. July 10.
• The Prosecutor's Office of Vologda sent a statement of claim to the court to recognize the fake leaflet as extremist material // Website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Vologda Region. 2012. August 6.
• Ksenia Solyanskaya.Extremist Putin.They want to recognize Navalny’s leaflets as extremist // Newspaper. Ru. 2012. September 8.