Unlawful anti-extremism in May 2014

We we publish an overview of the main and most significant events in the field of misuse of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in May 2014.

Rulemaking

5 May 2014, President Vladimir Putin immediately signed the entire package of anti-terrorist laws proposed by a group of deputies from all four factions in January 2014 of the year.

Among them, the law "On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation (in terms of improving counter-terrorism)", which affected not only terrorist activities. Punishment under Art. 212 of the Criminal Code (riots) increased from 4–10 up to 8-15 years in prison, the wording of the article has changed. Punishment now follows not only the organization, but also the preparation of mass riots, and a list of means used in riots ("using firearms, explosives or explosive devices") supplemented by " substances and objects that pose a danger to surrounding ". Article 212 of the Criminal Code is also supplemented by part 4, which provides punishment for the " acquisition of knowledge, practical skills and abilities in the course of classes in physical and psychological preparation "for the organization riots. Additions made to Art. 282.1 (organization extremist community) and 282.2 (organization of activities of an extremist organizations), which now provide for liability (from one year to six years in prison) for " inducement, recruitment or other involvement persons "into the work of an extremist organization. Broad formulations "anti-terrorist" law, from our point of view, can lead to unlawful persecution.

The law on bloggers", which amended the laws on information and communications, aimed at strengthening state control over the Internet, presumably for the purpose of countering extremism as well. Owners servers are now obligated to notify Roskomnadzor of the start activities, store data on all user actions during six months after the end of their activities and provide them law enforcement agencies in cases provided for by law, in also comply with the requirements for hardware and software and hardware to facilitate the operational-search activity. Legally enshrined in the term "blogger" in law - the owner of a website or page on the Internet, access to which during the day is more than three thousand users , not registered as a media. This definition is incomprehensible in all its parts and its clarification is entrusted to Roskomnadzor. Such a "blogger" must disclose his real name, is vested with the obligations of the media, but not their rights, and be included in a special register. Experts point out that the implementation of this, posing a significant threat to freedom of speech, the law, will face a lot of technical problems.

On the same day, the President signed law "on the rehabilitation of Nazism", proposed by a group of deputies in headed by Irina Yarova ("United Russia"). Thus, the Criminal Code added new article 354.1, which is punishable by a large fine or imprisonment for up to five years "denial facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for trial and punishment of the main war criminals of the European Axis countries, approval crimes established by the said verdict, as well as the spread deliberately false information about the activities of the USSR during World War II, connected with the accusation of committing crimes established by the specified verdict committed in public" . From our point of view, the law does not will bring nothing new to the fight against neo-Nazi propaganda, since everything opportunities for such are already provided by Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, but due to unsuccessfully chosen and vague language can be used to restrict freedom of speech, in first of all in the historical discussion.

In the second half of May, the State Duma adopted in the first reading bill No. 478164-6 on amendments to Article 20.3 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, proposed Deputy from "United Russia" Sergei Zheleznyak. According to this project, the text of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses should provide for liability not only for propaganda and public demonstration of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols, confusingly similar to the Nazi, or symbols of extremist organizations, but also for propaganda and public display of paraphernalia or symbols of organizations that " collaborated with fascist organizations and movements, and cooperating with international or foreign organizations or their representatives, denying the judgment of the Nuremberg Tribunal, or sentences by national, military or occupation tribunals based on the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal ". Behind this wording for Zheleznyak are organizations that use " symbols and paraphernalia Bandera organization in Ukraine ". From our point of view, this a bill motivated solely by foreign policy reasons, redundant, and its very likely, broad interpretation can lead to various kind of curiosities and unlawful persecution.

Criminal prosecution

In early May, a resident of Sayanogorsk was sentenced under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 for participation in the activities of the "cell" of the banned movement "Tablighi Jamaat." Abubakir Beiva was accused of that he held meetings of members of the "cell" in his apartment, during whom he read excerpts from forbidden Islamic books. Magistrate's Court Sayanogorsk sentenced him to a fine, the sentence came into force. Recall we We consider it unlawful to ban the Tablighi Jamaat movement, since its members do not preach violence and there is no evidence that they involved in violent practices.

In the second half of May, it became known that the editor of the blog "Free the word of Adygea" Vasily Purdenko was found guilty under part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code in inciting hatred towards "non-Russians" and sentenced to a fine of 100 thousand rubles. From our point of view, the article "To be Russians in Adygea can, but it is futile", for which Purdenko was convicted, and which was banned for extremism, written from a nationalist perspective, it contains criticism of the policy of local authorities: clans, violations national parity and generally erroneous personnel policy. However, signs incitement of hatred and enmity towards the Circassians or dangerous appeals, deserving of criminal prosecution, we did not find in this text.

At the beginning of the month in The Moscow City Court was transferred the case on cooperation with Hizb ut-Tahrir, the charge was confirmed against four people. In addition to the charges under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization of activities extremist organization) Azizbek Inamov, Shamil Ismailov, Saipul Kurbanov Zikrullokhon Rakhmonkhojaev was also charged under Part 1 of Art. 30 and Art. 278 of the Criminal Code (preparation for a violent seizure of power and violent change of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation), Part 1 of Art. 205.1 (involvement in terrorist activities). Recall the practice of persecution Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters on charges of preparing violent seizure of power, when these accusations are made only on on the basis of party activity, we consider unlawful.

At the end of April in Kaliningrad three activists - Mikhail Feldman, Oleg Savvin and Dmitry Fonarev - were arrested on charges of Part 2 Art. 213 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism committed by a group of persons on by prior agreement or by an organized group, or in connection with resistance to a representative of the authorities). They are charged with an action on March 11, 2014, when activists "placed the flag of Germany as a symbol of the need for the withdrawal of the Kaliningrad region from the Russian Federation and accession to the European Union, which grossly violated public order". We do not agree with the qualification of this act under Article 213 of the Criminal Code, which involves the commission of hooliganism with a weapon – which is not took place - or motivated by hatred. However, it is completely unclear, hatred to whom exactly those who hung the flag could be guided.

In the middle of May it became it is known that against the activist of the "Civil Movement of the Southern Urals" Konstantin Zharinov from Chelyabinsk, a criminal case was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 280 UK (public calls for extremist activity). The reason was that that Zharinov posted on his page on the social network "VKontakte" appeal of the "Right Sector" to the "Russians and other enslaved peoples" with a call for actions of disobedience, the creation partisan detachments and other forms of resistance to the regime. How claims Zharinov, he quickly deleted the publication, but the FSB managed to turn to her attention and filed a criminal case. Zharinov considers the publication of the appeal to be his mistake, he also believes that the interest of the FSB to him is caused by his political science specialization in the field of the history of terrorism, on which he wrote several books. Considering that Zharinov did not indicate that that supports the proclamation, and considering that the character other publications on the author's pages in social networks and blogs testify that that the author is not used to aggressive rhetoric, law enforcement agencies could limited to the requirement to delete the repost (if it continued to remain on page). The prosecution in this case is disproportionate measure.

On the same days, a criminal case was initiated under Part 1 Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred and enmity) against a teacher from the village Kromy Oryol region Alexander Byvsheva. Byvshev, amateur poet, posted on his page in the social network "VKontakte" a poem of his own composition called "Ukrainian patriots", written in the wake of the events in the Crimea. Its content is reduced to the appeal addressed to Ukrainians to meet the "Moskal gang", who came to their land, with weapons in their hands. The court is now considering civil action to ban the poem. Charge under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code appears us illegal. The hostile feelings of the author are not due to ethnic belonging to a certain group, but the nature of its activities. Thus, the incriminated actions cannot be qualified under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code. Generally we believe that such appeals were rather detrimental to the settlement the then situation in Ukraine, but this assessment remains within the framework of the political spore. It should be taken into account that the severity of the Ukrainian crisis is inevitable provokes many to extreme statements that are not characteristic of them in another time. It is better not to resort to criminal prosecution even for the most harsh statements, if they do not contain elements of a crime in the clear and unambiguous form. This consideration should be taken into account especially when it comes to appeals addressed to citizens or authorities another country. Otherwise, the actions of law enforcement agencies may only exacerbate the already high tension in society.

Administrative prosecution and others government measures

In May, we became aware of five cases of initiation of administrative cases under Art. 20.29 Administrative Code for distribution of illegally prohibited literature.

In Kazan, the case was initiated against local civil activist Boris Begaev for distributing the video Navalny "Let's Remind the Crooks and Thieves of their Manifesto-2002". Marat Shaipov from Volzhsk (Mari El) was fined for distributing a brochure of the Witnesses Jehovah's "What Does the Bible Really Teach?". After being discovered in his apartment of a large amount of prohibited literature, the head of the communities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Spassk-Dalniy (Primorsky Territory), in Asbest (Sverdlovsk region), the head of the religious organization "Irshad" was sentenced to a fine due to the fact that in prayer room of the organization were found two banned books - "Biographies Prophet Muhammad" by Ibn Hisham and "The Book of Monotheism" by Muhammad ibn Suleiman at-Tamimi. attempted distribution of "Muslim's Fortress" fined prisoner IK-3 UFSIN of Russia in Ryazan areas.

In addition, in Kunashak Chelyabinsk area from a bookstore located near the mosque by staff The FSB seized books sold there, including "Fortress Muslim", "Gardens of the Righteous" and "40 Hadith", which, we believe were banned unreasonably. It is reported that law enforcement agencies decide whether to initiate a case on the fact of trafficking extremist literature.

At the end of May Ussuri The city prosecutor's office of Primorsky Krai issued a warning about inadmissibility of extremist activity against a religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses of Ussuriysk" for the fact that, according to information law enforcement agencies, the head of the organization distributed one from books recognized as extremist.

It should be noted that in early May the Tver Regional Court confirmed his decision to lift the ban on the site of Jehovah's Witnesses. Recall that in August 2013, the Central District Court of Tver, at the suit of the prosecutor's office, banned jw.org website, which, among other things, posted texts of recognized extremist brochures of Jehovah's Witnesses - "What does it really teach Bible?", "Draw Close to Jehovah", "Come and Follow me" and others. Jehovah's Witnesses challenged the decision of the court, pointing out, in in particular, that the prohibited texts were removed from the site. In January The Tver Regional Court overturned the decision of the district court, but the prosecutor's office filed a cassation submission, which was considered and left without satisfaction.

The Tagansky District Court of Moscow at the beginning of the month rejected lawsuit filed by the editors of the website Grani.ru, which challenged the blocking of the website. Recall in March, Roskomnadzor, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, entered into the unified register prohibited information sites Grani.ru, Kasparov.ru and "Ezhednevny magazine" (ej.ru) and sent the providers a request for immediate restriction of access to them due to the fact that information about uncoordinated actions, which, according to law enforcement officers, could push people to participate in them. Equating coverage of certain illegal activities with incitement as such seems to us a dangerous tendency and arbitrary restriction of freedom of speech.

In the second mid-May, the prosecutor of Barnaul submitted to the information agency "Amitel" submission on the elimination of violations of the legislation on countering extremism and demanded that the perpetrators be brought to disciplinary responsibility. The reason for making the submission was the article "Comment, published by amic.ru reader formed the basis of a criminal case", in which the editor-in-chief cited the text of the seditious commentary. The editors have hidden the comment and removed it from the text of the article, however, considered unreasonable presentation address. How fair noted the editor-in-chief of the news agency, " the motives dissemination of information were aimed at highlighting the results of the case, and not to incite enmity and discord "and the purpose " was just the prevention of such violations by readers (commentators) for the future" . The phrase has been cited as an example of actions that may entail criminal punishment, the editors did not agree with the commentator and did not propagated his views.

In early May, the Kemerovo World Court acquitted the owner and seller exhibition and sale of antiques at the railway station, accused under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses in the propaganda and public display of Nazi symbols and paraphernalia. The defendants claimed that the award signs of the Wehrmacht, which they were accused of demonstrating, lay on display among badges of other countries from the times of the first and second world wars, the swastika on them was sealed with paper, and other symbols on the signs (eagles, wings, wreaths and lightning bolts) are not Nazi paraphernalia or symbols. The court concluded that the demonstration badges did not have a propaganda nature, the purpose of public propaganda and demonstrations of Nazism were not prosecuted. By court order, all badges must be returned. owner. We are convinced that Art. 20.3 Administrative Code should not be applied to antique dealers, but to modern manufacturers of objects with Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols (badges, clothes, copies of weapons, etc.) and distributors of such products.

In the middle of May in Moscow Detained Beslan Teuvazhev, activist of the organization "Adygekhem I Dunei" ("Circassian World"), one of the organizers of the campaign for the manufacture commemorative ribbons for the 150th anniversary of the Russian-Caucasian war. Coming back from printing house, from where he picked up commemorative tapes issued on the anniversary day (21 May), Teuvazhev was detained and taken to one of the Moscow police departments, where, under under the pretext of checking "for extremism" all the tapes in more than 70 thousand pieces. These objects are clearly not of public danger. represented: green ribbons showed the official start date and end of the war, as well as on several languages, including Russian and English, it was written "Remembrance Day and sorrow." Recall that we believe seizure of the entire output of products on suspicion of their extremist nature illegal. One or more is sufficient for testing. copies.

By the way, in mid-May it became known about return to the supporters of Alexei Navalny a large circulation of the newspaper "Za Navalny", seized from the headquarters of his support in Kirov a year ago. Expertise did not find any signs of extremism in them. Recall that the employees Kirov Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted a search at the headquarters under the pretext of checking "for extremism", the reason for which was an anonymous call. The entire circulation was sent for examination to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. An attempt by the headquarters staff to appeal the actions of law enforcement officers in the Pervomaisky District Court of Kirov were not crowned success: the court pointed out that the investigator is obliged to accept and check the message for any completed or upcoming crime.

At the end of May, the organizer and participant of a punk rock concert, which took place on May 9 in Nizhny Novgorod, filed claims with the courts on about the dispersal of the concert by the police under the pretext of anti-extremist prevention. Fifty police officers in camouflage, using force, detained about a hundred people, conducted interrogations without protocol, did not show their documents. The Ministry of Internal Affairs for Nizhny Novgorod explained the actions of the police verification of information about a possible extremist action and prevention. We believe that such "checks" are illegal.