The case of Rafis Kashapov has been transferred to court

At the end of May 2015, the case of the chairman of the Tatar Public Center Rafis Kashapov was brought to court. To the accusation of inciting hatred and enmity was added the accusation of calls for separatism.

In June 2015, it became known that in Naberezhnye Chelny the city court transferred the case of the chairman of the Tatar public center Rafis Kashapov.

From the indictment filed on May 21, 2015 year, it turned out that, in addition to the incriminated part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (excitation hatred or enmity), Kashapov was charged under Part 2 of Art. 280.1 CC (public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation).

Kashapov is accused of that from July 1 to December 11, 2014 he published in the public domain on his page on the social network "VKontakte" four materials: "Crimea and Ukraine will be free from invaders!", "Yesterday Hitler and Danzig, today Putin and Donetsk!", "Let's protect Ukraine and the entire Turkic world", "Where Russia is, there are tears and death" (one of these materials was written by Rafis Kashapov's brother Nafis).

In the indictment, with reference to the examination, it is said: " Submissions contain allegations that Crimea is not Russian territory and calls for actions to protect Crimea from Russian occupation, … a negative related to the actions of the Russian Federation in Crimea in 2014 and allegedly having place in some other regions of the country and abroad through statements about aggressive policy of the occupation of Crimea, violations of international law. At this, ignoring the will of the inhabitants of Crimea at the referendum in March 2014, the idea is formed that the territory of Crimea is annexed to Russia illegally .

Signs of a crime under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code on the basis of an examination that found in Kashapov's texts " linguistic means for the purposeful transfer of negative assessments of Russians, Russian power, Vladimir Putin on the basis of "attitude towards the nation" ".

In our opinion, Kashapov's accusations under Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code are illegal. We had the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the indicated articles and did not find in them corpus delicti under Art. 280.1 UK. Persecution for expressing one's own opinions and norms of international law is a violation of freedom of speech.

As a reminder, we also believe that in the charges against Kashapov There are no signs of inciting hatred on ethnic grounds in the materials. We did not find any calls for military action in them either. As for criticism Russian authorities, according to the explanation of the Supreme Court regarding the practice of applying anti-extremist legislation, it should not be regarded as incitement to hatred and be prosecuted under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code.

Brothers Rafis and Nafis Kashapovs are prominent activists of the Tatar national movement. Nafis emigrated from Russia in 2005, one of his texts was recently blocked for Russian users under Lugovoi's law. Rafis lives in Naberezhnye Chelny. In 2009, he was convicted under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code for publishing on his blog several texts against forced Russification and Christianization, as well as one inflammatory text by Chechen armed separatists. All these materials were recognized as extremist. In May 2015, Memorial Human Rights Center recognized Rafis Kashapov as a political prisoner and demanded his immediate release.

Sources

• Meshcheryakov Vadim. "The materials contain allegations that Crimea is not a territory of Russia…" // Free tribune (Tatarstan). 2015. June 19.