Unlawful extremism in November 2014

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

Rulemaking

In November, the President signed into law on the prohibition of the symbols of organizations that collaborated with the Nazis during the Second world war ( see in previous review ). We believe that this law is redundant and of poor quality, and its use may lead to unlawful prosecution.

It should be noted that at the end of October the Constitutional Court declared constitutional ban on any demonstration Nazi symbols and symbols similar to it to the point of confusion. The decision was made in response to a complaint filed Vladimir Murashov, sentenced to an administrative fine for public speaking demonstration of Nazi symbols (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). Murashov claimed that the symbols and signs demonstrated by him, in the traditions of various peoples, have meaning that is not associated with the ideology of Nazism, and therefore a ban on their use and distribution violates his constitutional rights. cop rejected complaint, because he did not see uncertainty in the current ban. IN the definition also says: " In itself, the use of the Nazi attributes (symbols), as well as attributes (symbols), similar to Nazi paraphernalia (symbols) to the point of confusion - regardless of its genesis - can cause suffering to people whose relatives died during Great Patriotic War, which also implies the right of the legislator take measures in accordance with Article 55 (part 3) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation ". Thus, the Constitutional Court did not clarify the issue of qualification of images of Nazi symbols, and the possibility of illegal persecution for displaying Nazi symbols outside of the context and purpose of such an act is still preserved.

Criminal the pursuit

In early November, Morgaushsky the district court of the Chuvash Republic recognized the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Bribe" by Eduard Mochalov guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (excitation hatred or enmity, as well as the humiliation of human dignity on the grounds nationality) and Part 1 of Art. 315 of the Criminal Code (non-execution of a court sentence, court decisions or another judicial act) and sentenced him to 400 hours of compulsory work. In addition to non-execution of the court decision (expressed in the fact that the editor did not publish in the newspaper a refutation of information " discrediting the honor and the dignity of individual officials "), Mochalov was accused of publication in No. 1 of the newspaper for 2013 of an article by a well-known Tatar public activist and writer Fauzia Bayramova "We are Tatars, not Russians" ( our estimate articles see the review for June ). Recall that earlier one of the authors of the newspaper "Bribe", Ille Ivanov, subjected to criminal prosecution, his article was banned as extremist, and the newspaper received a warning Roskomnadzor.

In November, it became known about the criminal case, initiated by the Verkhoyansk Interdistrict Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) on Art. 319 of the Criminal Code (insulting a representative of the authorities) and part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (excitation hatred and enmity, as well as the humiliation of human dignity) in relation to citizen of Ukraine S. The case was submitted to the court for consideration on the merits. IN October 2014 S. was detained under Art. 20.21 Administrative Code (appearance in public place in a state of alcoholic intoxication) and forwarded to the police. There drunk detainee insulted police officers, as well as " publicly, with the aim of humiliating honor and dignity on a national basis " obscene language addressed to others, mostly Yakuts (probably as police officers and visitors to the police station). In our opinion, the case under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code in relation to S. was illegally initiated, since offensive the statements were not made publicly. The suspect spoke within police station and was addressed to a small group whose representatives had the opportunity to sue him for insult in accordance with Art. 2.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Muslim persecution continues studying the works of Said Nursi.

In Ulyanovsk in November in the case of the creation of a cell banned organization Nurcular was charged four local residents, one of them is accused of organizing activities prohibited organization under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, three more - in participation in such according to part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. According to investigators, the defendants studied and discussed books Turkish theologian Said Nursi, and also disseminated his ideas among Muslims.

On the same days to the Oktyabrsky District Court Rostov-on-Don, the case was transferred under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code v. Gadzhibek Ismailov. According to investigators, Ismailov in the period from November 2012 to May 2013, knowing about the ban on the Nurcular organization, he organized at home in Rostov-on-Don "the study by several persons of extremist pamphlets."

Administrative persecution

In November, we became aware of the administrative cases brought under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (mass distribution of extremist materials or their storage for the purpose of mass distribution) in fact distribution of materials that, in our opinion, have been prohibited unlawfully: in Grozny (Chechnya) a case against the owner of an Islamic goods store, Satsita Chukuyeva, because that several copies of the collection of prayers "Fortress Muslim"; in Kizlyar (North Ossetia) for the storage of religious works the chairman of the religious organization "Amanat" was fined; V Kazan, a case was initiated against another Internet user, who distributed the video of supporters of Alexei Navalny "Let's remember the crooks and Thieves their Manifesto-2002"; a prisoner serving time in a colony Adygeisk (Adygea), was fined for giving other prisoners to read book by Sheikh Ali Al-Tantawy "A General View of Islam".

Prohibition of organizations and materials for extremism and other government actions

In mid-November, the Supreme The court of the Russian Federation confirmed the decision of the Samara Regional Court on the recognition of extremist organization of the Samara branch of Jehovah's Witnesses and the prohibition of its activities ( see background in the June review ).

In November was illegally banned as extremist video "Additional piety", dedicated to the seizure from the Russian Orthodox Autonomous church (ROAC) of the relics of St. Euphemia and Euphrosyne of Suzdal. Court decision so far did not enter into force, the defense announced its intention to appeal it. Court agreed with the arguments of the prosecutor's office based on the results of the examination, found in this video negative assessments of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Liberal Democratic Party, as well as statements of a " hostile, aggressive nature ". We have not been able to find any extremist speeches. Criticism of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party, who spoke in the conflict around the relics on the side of the Russian Orthodox Church, is generally correct and not contains inflammatory appeals

In November, it also became known that at the end of June 2014 Artyomovsk city court of the Sverdlovsk region recognized as extremist 13 Islamic publications at once, four of them - repeatedly. The court agreed with the arguments prosecutor's office, which claimed that these books contained " information, aimed at promoting the superiority and exclusivity of Islam over others religions, to incite religious hatred and enmity towards people, non-Muslims, and Muslims who deviated from the principles of strict monotheism ." We are not had the opportunity to get acquainted with all publications recognized as extremist by Artemovsky court, however, at least four of them are recognized as extremist illegally.

Wide resonance in November, became known in connection with the decision of the appellate instance, the story about the prohibition of jokes. Recall that in May 2014 The Industrial District Court of the city of Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic recognized an extremist joke posted on a personal page on a social network "VKontakte" by Pavel Fokeev, a resident of Izhevsk. Fokeev tried to appeal court decision, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court Republic of Udmurtia in mid-November 2014. An anecdote called - "Court. The case of the beating of a Caucasian ...", in another version, known since The 1940s, although it has a xenophobic connotation for some of the audience, is not contains dangerous incitements to violence and can hardly be considered inciting hatred. Upon the publication of this and probably several other nationalistic materials, also recognized as extremist Industrial District Court of Izhevsk and those already included in the Federal List extremist materials, a criminal case was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting national hatred). Fokeev, who has already served his sentence for brutal racist attack, no doubt intended to incite hatred, but the prohibition of the joke as extremist material does not seem to justified measure.

In mid-November, the editor-in-chief of the radio station and site "Echo of Moscow" Alexei Venediktov appealed to the Tagansky district court of Moscow warnings issued by Roskomnadzor. Recall that on October 31, Roskomnadzor issued to the editorial board and founder of the radio station and the website "Echo of Moscow" warnings about the inadmissibility of violating laws on information and countering extremist activity. The reason was the transfer "With Your Own Eyes", broadcast live on October 29, dedicated to the battles at the Donetsk airport, as well as a transcript of this program, published on the Echo of Moscow website. The program was hosted by Alexander Plushev, the correspondent of the TV channel participated "Rain" Timur Olevsky and Los Angeles Times correspondent Sergey Loiko. In the text of the warnings, Roskomnadzor indicated that the program "contains information justifying the practice of committing war crimes…" , "aimed at to the complete or partial destruction of any ethnic, national group" , and demanded to remove the material from the site in ten days term. At the same time, the agency did not explain which statements of the participants transfers are illegal. Explanations of the head of Roskomnadzor Alexandra Zharova, who gave in an interview with Kommersant regarding warnings, contain a whole a number of errors. From our point of view, the warnings of Ekho Moskvy were rendered unlawfully. The program "With Your Own Eyes" did not contain calls for the destruction of any ethnic or national groups, more than In addition, the guests of the program emphasized that the origin and linguistic affiliation do not play a role in which side the parties to the conflict choose. In a programme no theses were voiced to justify the practice of war crimes. Probably, the dissatisfaction of the authorities was caused by the position of one of the guests "His eyes", sympathizing with the Ukrainian side, as well as the stated correspondents detailed information about what is happening at the airport.