Unlawful anti-extremism in September 2012

We publish a review the main and most significant developments in the field of misuse in Russian anti-extremist legislation in September 2012.

Rulemaking

At the end of September, the State Duma adopted in the first reading, the bill concerning the concepts of espionage and state treason. In the current version of the Criminal Code, high treason means assistance hostile actions of foreign states or organizations that threaten the external state security. In the new version, the epithet "external" disappears, and security is offered be understood as broadly as possible, and the clarifications introduced, for example, about whether that assistance can also take the form of "consultations", make the wording only less certain. It is proposed to include in the new version of the law a mention of international (along with foreign) organizations, while international are also many organizations registered in Russia. It is not clear how be considered treason to assist someone in changing the constitutional order, as proposed in the draft law: after all, the Constitution is not immutable, even the foundations of the constitutional order can be changed in the manner prescribed by the Constitution. A crime can only be considered a violent attempt to change the basis constitutional order, but the criterion of violence in the bill absent.

It should be noted that this draft law once, in December 2008, was already submitted by the government for consideration. State Duma, however, in January 2009, the then President Dmitry Medvedev returned it for revision, which he never undergone.

On the same days, the draft law "On amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation in order to counteract insult religious beliefs and feelings of citizens, desecration of objects and items of religious veneration (pilgrimage), places of religious rites and ceremonies, prepared by the Committee for Public Associations and Religious organizations of the State Duma.

This bill openly encroaches on the secular nature of the state (that is just on one of the foundations of the constitutional system), directly duplicates already norms existing in the legislation and is discriminatory against to a wide range of religious movements. Our position is detailed here . This bill cannot be amended, it must be withdrawn. Problem insulting the feelings of believers requires a completely different approach.

Criminal prosecution

In September were the expiration of the statute of limitations, the cases of four out of 12 accused in the so-called "Case 12" filed under part 1 and Part 2 Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization and participation in the activities of a prohibited organization) against 12 activists of the "Other Russia" in St. Petersburg. Recall that we consider this case unlawful, since the defendants spoke from name of the not banned movement "Other Russia", in addition, illegal, from our point of view, was the ban on the NBP, in the continuation of the activities with which they are accused.

Meanwhile, the investigation of the Moscow case continues under the same Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code for participation in the activities of the NBP - against participants in the action to seize reception of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008. In the second half of the month, as part of the investigation, Alena Goryacheva, an activist, was detained in Orenburg and taken to Moscow. Recall that in July 2012 they were found guilty and sentenced to fines four participants.

Administrative persecution

In early September, it became known that the world court of the city of Aznakayevo The Republic of Tatarstan recognized the owner of the city store "Ritual" Ilmira Kharisova guilty of committing an administrative offense under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (mass distribution of extremist materials). Kharisov was sentenced for selling Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakfuri's book "Life Prophet", unlawfully, from our point of view, recognized as extremist by the Leninsky district court of Orenburg in March of this year (about the continuation of this case - see below), to a fine of 2,000 rubles and confiscation of literature. Note also that the book was sold in the store at a time when its ban was not yet known.

In mid-September, the Avtozavodsky District Court of Tolyatti fined 50 thousand rubles under Art. 20.29 LLC "Katyusha", a limited liability company for which it is registered Togliatti branch of the chain of bookstores "Chakona". A little earlier, a similar case was filed in Samara against Remiks LLC, against which registered store "Chakona" in Samara.

In early September, the world court of the Leninsky district of Tyumen fined under Art. 20.29 residents of Tyumen for 3 thousand rubles for posting a link on a social network on the film "Miracles of the Koran", groundlessly recognized as extremist.

Prohibition of materials for extremism

In mid-September, consideration began in the Orenburg Regional Court appeals against the decision of the Leninsky District Court of Orenburg on recognition of 68 Muslim religious materials as extremist. This time lawyers of the Council of Muftis of Russia are participating in the process, representing interests of authors and publishers. Recall that in the Leninsky District Court the process took place without the involvement of representatives of authors and publishers, on judicial the March 2012 decision became known only in the second half of June. At the same time, the court immediately banned almost the entire library confiscated from the follower Turkish theologian Said Nursi and consisting of a variety of Islamic religious writings. Interested parties managed to achieve recovery deadline for filing an appeal, and as a result, the court accepted 14 complaints against decision to ban materials.

At the end of September 2012, the main Vasily Bokin, editor of the Nash Golos newspaper, appealed against the court decision Inzensky district court of the Ulyanovsk region, which in August recognized the article as extremist "Stop the genocide", published in July 2009 in No. 2 of the newspaper. The article is an open letter from Bokin to the inhabitants of the village of Oskino, who do not teach children the Erzya language, it describes possible ways to combat discrimination. We believe that the material recognized as extremist wrongfully. The author of the article does not call for violence and even claims it is harmful. However, in our opinion, the newspaper deserves warnings, since the style of the presentation of the terrorist option development of events is such that it clearly arouses sympathy for this option.

On the same days in the Soviet District Court Orel began consideration of the case on the recognition of extremist site orlec.ru. This a popular resource in Orel, positioning itself as a free encyclopedia, provides the opportunity to publish to everyone anonymously and "ironically" speak out about the life of the city. In the spring, publications appeared on the site "Mosque", "Aquarium" and "Economy", which, according to the conclusions of the experts, contained " signs of inciting hostility between groups of people united by national and religious grounds ", as well as " calls for violent action ". Despite the fact that the materials were soon removed by the site administration, in the summer on the fact of their placement, a case was opened under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (inciting hatred or enmity, as well as the humiliation of human dignity). Now speech It's about banning the entire site. From our point of view, it would be sufficient to issue administrators of "Orlets" a warning to continue moderation was carried out more efficiently and aggressive materials were quickly removed.

Website blocking and others administrative measures

In the second half of September, within the fight against the distribution of the film "Innocence of Muslims" General the prosecutor's office demanded that the regional prosecutor's offices issue warnings about inadmissibility of violations of legislation on countering extremism by local providers in order to oblige them to block access to the film or its contents resources. With similar recommendations he turned to telecom operators and Roskomnadzor. As a result, providers in a significant part of Russian regions. Some of them fulfilled the requirements designated departments and denied access to the film or even to the resources containing it (primarily YouTube) entirely. Thus, access to the "Innocence of Muslims" and the sites on which it was posted, was blocked by a number of operators in the North Caucasus and Southern federal districts. The film was removed from the pages of the social network "VKontakte".

We note that the instructions of the prosecutor's office and Roskomnadzor to block access to the film were unlawful, because at that time moment it was not banned: the Tverskoy Court of Moscow recognized it as extremist only October 1, but this decision has not yet entered into force. In addition, the ban of the film is not a sufficient reason to deny users access to popular resources such as YouTube.

In mid-September Zelenodolskaya The city prosecutor's office of Tatarstan issued a warning about the inadmissibility carrying out extremist activities to a resident of the village of Bolshie Kulbashi, on which was complained by fellow villagers who felt that their religious feelings offended by the fact that the neighbor condemns the celebration of secular holidays and commemorations on third, seventh and fortieth days. We believe that such translation of intra-confessional disagreements into the plane "extremism" is unjustified and a warning issued illegally.

At the beginning of the month, it became known that the selection committee of the VIII Kazan International Muslim Film Festival at the insistence of representatives Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan excluded from the program film directed by Mehmet Tanrisever "Free Man: Badiuzzaman Said" Nursi" dedicated to the famous Turkish theologian, referring to the fact that in Russia has banned a number of Nursi's books, and his followers are persecuted as participants religious organization "Nurdzhular", recognized as extremist. Recall that we believe both the ban on Nursi's books and the persecution of his supporters are unlawful, which never formed any unified organization.