Unlawful anti-extremism in March 2015

We we publish an overview of the main and most significant events in the field of misuse of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in March 2015.

Rulemaking

The Constitutional Court in early March promulgated the ruling in February, the decision to refuse to consider the complaint of Sergei Alekhine. Alekhine tried to appeal two dubious provisions of the law "On countering extremist activities": about what is under the extremist activity, among other things, is understood as promoting the superiority of one's own religion over others, and a ban on any display of symbols similar to Nazi, regardless of the context in which it is shown. Reason for applying in the Constitutional Court was the recognition of Chinese spiritual materials as extremist of the Falun Gong movement in the Krasnodar Regional Court in 2011. Movement emblem contains a four-beam swastika - a traditional oriental symbol. The CC pointed out that the rule of superiority, when properly applied, does not infringe freedom of thought and words, but the symbolism, similar to the Nazi, "regardless of its genesis", "can cause suffering" relatives of those who died during the war. The COP did not put forward any more arguments.

Kaliningradskaya The regional Duma submitted to the State Duma a draft law providing for the tightening of Art. 20.3 Administrative Code, which just punishes for propaganda and demonstration of Nazi or extremist paraphernalia or symbols. For offenses under part 1 of this article, a sharp increase in fines is planned (from 10 to 20 thousand for individuals, from 15 to 30 thousand rubles for officials, from 50 to 100 thousand rubles for legal entities). Penalties for acts provided for in part 2, can range from 30 to 50 thousand rubles for citizens, 50-100 thousand rubles for officials and from 250 to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities. It is also proposed to introduce administrative punishment for the repeated commission of such offenses in in the form of a fine for citizens in the amount of from 50 to 100 thousand rubles, from 100 to 300 thousand rubles for officials, from 500 thousand to one million rubles for legal entities.

In late March Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and procedural legislation Alexander Remezkov submitted to the Duma bill to introduce criminal liability for legal entities. A wide range is provided penalties - warning, deprivation of a license or benefits, fines, deprivation of the right on activities or a ban on activities on the territory of the Russian Federation, liquidation. IN in particular, liquidation or ban on activities follow for organizations, recognized as extremist or terrorist. Indeed, such organizations liquidated and in accordance with existing legislation. However liquidation may also follow if the organization is involved in committing crimes under Art. 205.2, 208, 212, 278, 280, 282 of the Criminal Code (new articles 280.1 and 354.1, apparently, they were simply missed by the author of the project). In all these cases, except for Art. 280 of the Criminal Code, provides for the possibility of preserving the organization and alternative punishment in the form of a large fine, a temporary ban on activities, deprivation benefits. Note that as a crime of a legal entity will be interpreted not only organization or execution of a crime at the direction of members of the leadership, but also any complicity to such, including even connivance, "facilitating the commission or concealment of a crime through, inter alia, the provision of advisory services . Given the prevailing law enforcement practice, all this makes one fear widespread abuse, so it is highly probable that this The bill is worrying.

Criminal prosecution

In early March, the Taganrog city court began a second consideration of the "case of 16" - 16 Witnesses Jehovah found guilty of chch. 1 and 2 Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (organization activities of an extremist organization and participation in such) just for continuation of the activities of the Taganrog community of Jehovah's Witnesses. All defendants plead not guilty. The court proposed to withdraw of which charges under Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, since the terms of attraction under it have expired, however, they refused to dismiss the case on non-rehabilitating grounds, insisting on an acquittal.

In the middle of the month in Trial of three activists began in Kaliningrad in March 2014 who hung the flag of Germany on the garage of the FSB Directorate for the Kaliningrad Region - Mikhail Feldman, Oleg Savvin and Dmitry Fonarev. They've been charged according to part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism committed by a group of persons upon prior collusion based on political hatred and enmity and based on hatred in regarding the social group "authorities"). By the initial version of the investigation, on March 11, 2014 they hung the flag of Germany " as a symbol of the need for the withdrawal of the Kaliningrad region from the Russian Federation and joining the European Union, thereby flagrantly violating public order ." During the process, it became known that it was also about "insulting veterans Great Patriotic War". Let us recall that, according to the explanation of the Supreme Court regarding the practice of applying anti-extremist legislation, criticism of political figures (that is, authorities) should not be considered as incitement to hatred and prosecuted under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, and this consideration is quite appropriate to extend to this happening. In addition, the very qualification of flag-flying as a criminal crime is questionable.

In those days it became it is known that an associate of the defendants in the Committee of Public Self-Defense (KOS), Kaliningrader Dmitry Irkitov is a suspect under Art. 280 of the Criminal Code. Irkitov suspected of disseminating calls on social networks to change the constitutional building the RF. Details are not yet known. Law enforcement agencies called activist for a conversation, then they searched him and confiscated his computer. Autumn 2014 Irkitov participated in the "Peace March", which in Kaliningrad organized KOS, and later, like some other organizers March, was severely beaten. He is currently in the hospital due to deterioration. states.

IN at the end of the month, Darya Polyudova, a left-wing activist from Krasnodar, turned to European Court of Human Rights. She's filing a criminal complaint to which she is subjected as disproportionate and unjustifiably cruel, as well as her own half year arrest. In March, it became known that Polyudova was not charged attempt to organize a march for the federalization of the Kuban, she was charged with st.st. 280 (public calls for the implementation extremist activity) and 280.1 of the Criminal Code (public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating territorial integrity of the Russian Federation) of the Criminal Code in fact multiple posts on social media. Based on preliminary information, dangerous these publications did not contain appeals deserving criminal prosecution.

In March Human Rights Center "Memorial" recognized as a political prisoner another Kuban opposition activist, Sergei Titarenko, who was arrested in Krasnodar in September 2014 as suspect under Art. 280 of the Criminal Code and released on bail in March after six months in jail. It was previously assumed that he was "accomplice" Polyudova in the case of the march for the federalization of the Kuban. However, as it turned out, he had nothing to do with the organization of the march, he is charged with blame the repost on the social network of the text published in the form of a news report about that the deputy head of the Dnepropetrovsk administration, Boris Filatov, allegedly proposes reward for the removal of the Russian president. Titarenko reposted this text without evaluative comments, so in this case it would be wrong interpret the repost as a call to action. It is known that many took this text as a news item, so Filatov himself considered it necessary to refute the statement attributed to him. From our point of view, law enforcement could well require social media users to remove the inflammatory misinformation, but criminal prosecution would be appropriate for the author himself, and not the readers deceived by him.

In Nizhny Tagil, according to art. 282 of the Criminal Code (incitement of hatred and enmity), a prisoner of IK-5 was convicted, sharply expressed in the room of educational work. According to investigators, " the accused in the presence of other convicts, he uttered a number of insulting statements aimed to incite discord in relation to certain social and religious groups "became" in rudely speak out on religious topics "and assert the superiority of one religion over another. Court sentenced the prisoner, taking into account the part of the punishment he had not served under the previous sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 1 year 7 months from serving in a strict regime colony. On our opinion, the verdict under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code was wrongfully issued to the prisoner, because no matter how rude and offensive remarks were made in public. The suspect spoke within the same room and addressed a small group. In addition, we are in favor of excluding anti-extremist articles propaganda of the superiority of one religion over others and inciting hatred towards social groups.

At the end of March 2015 in Murmansk due to the expiration of the statute of limitations terminated the criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (excitation hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity) against the owner of the site "Blogger51" Alexander Serebryanikov. Recall the case against him was initiated in 2013, the reason was the publication of material containing "statements, inciting to hostile actions against a group of persons united by sign of attitude to religion . "Serebryanikov argued that the paragraph nationalistic content appeared in one of the texts after the site was hacked; detecting interference, the editor promptly deleted someone else's text and moved archived news. According to media speculation, the real reason for the persecution Serebryannikov had other publications on his website, where they often appear materials with criticism of regional and municipal authorities.

Administrative the pursuit

According to Art. 20.29 Administrative Code (mass distribution of extremist materials or their possession for the purpose of distribution) in March, according to our records, eight person and one legal entity, among them five believers (obviously Muslims) from the village of Khalitovo, Chelyabinsk region, exchanging prohibited religious literature, the Tyumen community of Jehovah's Witnesses, in which believers pamphlets recognized as extremist were distributed, acting. bailiff from Nadym, posted in 2011 on the social network a video of supporters of Alexei Navalny "Let's remember their crooks and thieves Manifesto-2002", Deputy Director scientific library of Izhevsk State Technological University, which discovered several extremist books, the Saratov anti-fascist, who published in social networks excerpt from the anti-Semitic book by V.N. Gladky.

According to Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for demonstration of Nazi symbols, which had no ideological background, two people were fined. A journalist from Smolensk had an imprudence post on social networks a photograph of the native courtyard during the German occupation: the picture, taken from the site of historical photography, was visible Nazi flag and a group of military men. Reason for public persecution activists from Buryatia became a repost of the symbol of the Grammar Nazi movement - images an eagle resembling a Nazi one, with a swastika in its paws, with the inscription Grammatik Macht Frei. In addition, ten other people were arrested on the march in memory of Boris Nemtsov in Moscow and fined under Art. 20.3 Administrative Code for flags with a Celtic cross, which is common in the far right environment symbol, but does not apply to Nazi symbols or symbols of prohibited for extremism of organizations falling within the scope of this article. Note that, apparently, this top ten also included people who happened to be next to flag.

For the imperfection of content filters, which, in principle, do not can weed out all prohibited content, according to Art. 6.17 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of children from information that is harmful to their health and (or) development) six legal entities were held liable: five owners of city cafes in Novosibirsk and the Central Library System city ​​of Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk region.

Prohibition of organizations and materials for extremism and other state actions

In the beginning of March The Krasnodar Regional Court recognized as extremist a local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Abinsk and decided to liquidate it. The basis for recognizing the community as extremist was that its member was brought to administrative responsibility for distribution of several brochures included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials. Organizations issued a warning about the inadmissibility of extremist activity, however, community members continued to distribute religious literature. Protection community of Jehovah's Witnesses considers the decision of the court illegal and unreasonable, violating the constitutional rights of believers and intends to appeal it to the Supreme court. This is the third known ban on the local organization of Jehovah's Witnesses. as extremist (and the fourth attempt at such a ban).

In the second half of March The Supreme Court of the Republic of Adygeya approved the December decision of the Maykop city court, which considered the posted on the site "For Krasnodar" article by local ecologist Valery Brinikh Silence of the Lambs on pollution environment by the pig-breeding complex CJSC "Kyevo-Zhuraki APK". The prosecutor's office considered that the author of the article "incites ethnic hatred and sows enmity", and also "calls for the implementation of extremist activities." We did not find dangerous appeals in the article. Obviously, in this case, local the authorities used Brynich's article as a pretext to put pressure on activist and to the independent website "For Krasnodar", because the owner of the pig-breeding complex is Member of the Federation Council Vyacheslav Derev. Now that the ban on the article has been confirmed, Obviously, a criminal case against Brinich, initiated under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code upon its publication.

At the end of the month, Roskomnadzor issued a warning Novosibirsk online edition "Sib.fm". The reason was illustration for the article "Novosibirsk social activists opposed monopoly of the Orthodox Church on morality and spirituality." Collage was an image of Christ, Pushkin and Putin drinking together. The agency considered that this image offends "religious feelings Christians". At the same time, Roskomnadzor groundlessly referred to the law on countering extremist activity, which prohibits the dissemination of extremist materials: this image is not among the prohibited. Availability in legislation of norms that protect the feelings of believers, i.e. invading the sphere subjective worldview, inevitably leads to such curiosities.