To imprison someone, extremism is not enough, you need terrorism

We publish an interview with Alexander Verkhovsky "In order to jail someone, extremism is not enough, terrorism is needed" , which was published on the website "Caucasian Politics" on September 30, 2013. The interview is devoted to the draft law on a new set of anti-terrorist measures, submitted to the State Duma by the President of the Russian Federation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to supplement the criminal code with articles on "teaching terrorism" and the organization of "terrorist communities". Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the Sova Information and Analytical Center, believes that they are similar to articles about extremism. He also told why such changes in the legislation were again needed in the direction of tightening, is there any reason for this and what will happen next.

The new bill proposed by the President will, of course, be adopted. I think some amendments will be made, because the article is worded in places in such a way that it opens up the prospect of some abuses.

It's just the way it is, where there is bad wording, abuse suggests itself, so I would like to hope that amendments to the bill will still be made. This applies precisely to the clarification of articles, because there are really incomprehensible places there.

Thus, financial responsibility can be assigned to people connected in some indefinite way with terrorists who are somehow dear to people. What does this mean and how will it be applied? Dont clear.

Of course, that each such formulation has its own obvious reason. For example, in the issue of expanding the circle of liability. When a terrorist act is committed, there is usually nothing to take from the terrorist, and from relatives, too, which means that it is necessary to recover from someone else so that the inner circle turns out to be somehow responsible.

As for training. Yes, indeed, there are people who, for example, were trained at some military base during the Caucasian war. But then he did not participate in combat formations and seems to be not guilty of anything, because he did nothing of the sort.

However, he has some relation to the group that organized the attacks, and thus is a source of increased danger. And the easiest way to plant it right away. This is what the article is designed for.

The organization of a terrorist community is an analogue of the article on the organization of an extremist community. The introduction of such an article means that if there is an informal group that is going to commit some kind of crime of this kind, then even participation in this group is a crime.

Even if a person himself did not manage to do anything from the listed articles, and did not even directly contribute, but was in a group in some way, then this is a crime.

This, again, is aimed at a wider range, if not real, then potential terrorists who are in some kind of group.

In principle, there is nothing special about this, and this is done more or less everywhere, but I don’t know how this will be proved in this case, since cases under the corresponding article on the extremist community are difficult, as far as I know.

Because it is very difficult to prove something by participation in non-formal education, but nevertheless, sometimes it is proved easily.

In a new article on organizing the activities of a terrorist organization banned by a court, it is more or less clear what it is about.

We now have all terrorist organizations that are recognized as such, banned under the law on extremist activities - from al-Qaeda to some little-known ones.

Accordingly, an attempt to create an al-Qaeda cell, say, in some Russian city, should be prosecuted under article 282.2 “Organization of an extremist organization banned by a court,” and there are not very large sanctions.

This article will probably also apply to members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, who are caught and imprisoned, but recently there has been a practice to charge them with the completely unthinkable - an attempt to forcibly overthrow the constitutional order.

Although the activity of this organization does not really correspond to the constitution, but of course, the known facts about its activity in Russia do not fit the definition of terrorist activity, just as there is no direct attempt by this organization to overthrow the government in the country.

In fact, today the accusation of plotting a coup is "drawn by the ears". And now law enforcement agencies are given the opportunity to put them in jail for a longer period.

At the same time, if a new article on the organization of a terrorist organization is introduced, then such associations can be sentenced to serious terms: from 5 to 10 years. There will be no need to suffer and falsify, as is happening now.

Sources

• Alexander Verkhovsky. To jail someone, extremism is not enough, terrorism is needed // Caucasian politics. 2013. September 30.