The State Duma has begun considering the law on fans

The State Duma adopted the so-called law on fans in the first reading. In particular, it provides for tougher sanctions for violating the rules of conduct at sporting events. The bill provides for the introduction of various penalties for troublemakers, ranging from a fine to administrative arrest and a ban on attending official sporting events. Sanctions are also provided for competition organizers.

Photo: Dmitry Lebedev, Kommersant / buy photo

The law on fans was submitted to the State Duma by the Russian government at the end of November last year. Let us note that there has been talk about the need to draw up such a legislative act for a long time, but things got off the ground after a number of scandals that took place in Russian football last fall.

In particular, on September 26, 2012, the match of the 1/16 finals of the Russian Cup between the Moscow Torpedo and Dynamo was disrupted due to the fact that black and white fans, in protest against the club's policy, threw fireworks at the running track and the field near their sector and explosive packages.

On November 17, a more unpleasant incident occurred: at the stadium in Khimki, during a meeting between Dynamo and Zenit, a firecracker thrown from the sector that was assigned to the fans of the St. Petersburg club exploded next to the blue and white goalkeeper Anton Shunin. The match was immediately abandoned. Shunin was diagnosed with a burn to the cornea of the eye, and Zenit was later awarded a technical defeat.

The document, approved by the State Duma in the first reading, provides for various sanctions against violators of order in competition venues (decisions on punishment will be made by the courts, and control over their implementation will be entrusted to the police). Thus, for the most minor offenses, the perpetrators can receive a fine of 1 thousand rubles. More serious violations can already be punished, for example, by a ban on attending matches for a period of one month to six months. If the violation resulted in, say, a match being disrupted, the offender could be arrested for up to 15 days and could also be banned from attending competitions for up to one year. If a person who was previously prohibited from visiting stadiums violates the ban, he may be subject to a fine of up to 5 thousand rubles. and again arrested for 15 days.

The bill also provides for the responsibility of competition organizers. In particular, we are talking about fines - from 5 thousand to 150 thousand rubles. However, if, as a result of the competition organizer’s failure to provide security, an act falls under criminal law, the competition organizers may be fined from 15 thousand to 200 thousand rubles. The most severe sanction against guilty organizers should be administrative suspension of activities for up to 90 days.

The document also contains a rule providing for the sale of tickets to competitions only upon presentation of a passport. However, she is not tough. Competition organizers have the right to decide for themselves whether to require documents from spectators or not.

Simultaneously with the government bill, the State Duma also considered two alternative documents. One was submitted to the chamber for consideration by the Vice-Speaker of the State Duma from the LDPR, Igor Lebedev, the second - by a group of deputies of A Just Russia. The LDPR project provided for the introduction of a new article into the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) of the Russian Federation, establishing liability for violating public order during sports events. Mr. Lebedev proposed punishing lawbreakers with compulsory labor (from 100 to 200 hours). The document received from A Just Russia proposed increasing the ban on attending competitions to three years. However, both bills did not find the required support from deputies.

Arnold Kabanov

Fans were led through a reading