The Chelyabinsk court banned “disrespect for May 9” on social networks

The Central District Court of Chelyabinsk recognized as prohibited information posts in social networks expressing "disrespect for the celebration of May 9".

On April 21, 2015, it became known that the Central District Court of Chelyabinsk satisfied the requirements of the prosecutor's office of the Chelyabinsk region and recognized prohibited information the conversations and posts of two citizens of Ukraine posted on the social network VKontakte and LiveJournal as . The decision has not entered into force.

The suit of the prosecutor's office was initiated by a complaint from a certain resident of the Chelyabinsk region, who saw in the discussion in social networks " disrespect for the celebration of May 9 ". The prosecutor's office also concluded that " this information distorts the historical facts of the Great Patriotic War, contributes to the rehabilitation of Nazism and the glorification of Nazi criminals, and also creates conditions for the commission of crimes of an extremist nature ," and sent a lawsuit to court.

This decision of the court seems to us unlawful and restricting freedom of speech. It seems to us that it was adopted on the basis of the law "On Amending the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Article 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (on the issue of establishing criminal liability for infringement of historical memory in relation to events that took place during the Second World War )", which entered into force in May 2014. Recall, in our opinion, this law is actually aimed at prohibiting historical discussion.

Sources

• After the intervention of the prosecutor's office of the Chelyabinsk region, access to Internet pages with information that distorts the historical facts of the Great Patriotic War will be limited // Website of the prosecutor's office of the Chelyabinsk region. 2015. April 21.
• Kondrashova Hope. The prosecutor's office of the Chelyabinsk region "banned" Ukrainians on the Internet // Telefact (Chelyabinsk). 2015. April 21.