The HRC has decided on the feelings of believers

The Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) has developed amendments to the legislation on the protection of religious feelings.

“We are not proposing new articles of the Criminal Code, a new set of crimes, as State Duma deputies propose. The Council believes that it is possible to protect believers using the means that already exist in the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses, making targeted changes to them,” explained the Chairman of the Council Mikhail Fedotov ITAR-TASS.

“The task was set to protect religious feelings,” he recalled. “We are not talking about toughening the punishment, but about accurately defining the elements of the crime. For example, obstructing the activities of religious associations and obstructing the performance of religious rituals are completely different actions, but today in the Criminal Code they are considered as a single crime,” Fedotov noted, commenting on the amendments to Art. 148 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. “Now we propose to distinguish these acts and punish them differently, depending on the specific circumstances, the punishment can vary from a fine of 40 thousand rubles to 3 months’ arrest, and if there was violence, the punishment can reach 1 year in prison,” - said the head of the Human Rights Council.

The new version of Article 243 of the Criminal Code /destruction or damage to historical and cultural monuments/, developed by human rights activists, provides for up to 5 years of imprisonment if the crime was committed for “motives of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity in relation to any social group."

The HRC considers it necessary to make changes to the Administrative Code. According to the proposed amendment, for “deliberate humiliation of the dignity of another person in connection with his attitude to religion or desecration of liturgical literature, as well as objects of religious veneration,” the perpetrator can be fined 5 thousand rubles or sentenced to 100 hours of compulsory labor. The fine for this offense for officials is much higher - up to 50 thousand rubles, and for legal entities - up to 500 thousand rubles.

Earlier, the HRC, in its expert opinion, called for the rejection of the bill on insulting religious feelings, submitted to the State Duma on September 26, 2012 by deputies of all factions. The Council pointed out the vagueness of the wording, and considered the bill’s allocation of a number of religious associations that constitute an integral part of the historical heritage to be discriminatory towards other believers. The draft law provides for a number of amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In particular, it is proposed to supplement it with a new article, which provides for penalties for “insulting the religious beliefs and feelings of citizens and/or desecration of objects and objects of religious veneration/pilgrimage/, places intended for performing religious rites and ceremonies.” In case of public insult to the rituals of religious associations and public insult to the religious feelings of citizens, fines of up to 300 thousand rubles, or compulsory labor for up to 200 hours, or imprisonment for up to 3 years are provided.

"There are two ways to combat crimes in the religious sphere. The first way is characteristic of medieval law and theocratic states - the protection and promotion of one particular religion. The second is the protection of freedom of conscience, which has dominated in all developed countries since the end of the 18th century. The norms we propose protect freedom of conscience, as guaranteed by the Constitution of Russia,” Fedotov concluded in an interview with ITAR-TASS.

The HRC amendments contain an important addition - Art. 5.26 of the Code of Administrative Offenses in the council’s version has the following note: “Criticism of religious associations and their representatives, religious beliefs or customs is not in itself an offense.”