The relevant committee of the Duma opposed the ban on mentioning the religious affiliation of terrorists

The State Duma Committee on Information Policy recommended rejecting the bill banning mention of the nationality and religious affiliation of terrorists in the media.

On April 15, 2016, the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, determined to be responsible and relevant when considering the bill on the ban on mentioning the nationality and religious affiliation of terrorists in the media, recommended rejecting it in the first reading.

At a meeting of the committee, deputy Roman Chuychenko said that the bill was redundant, since the current legislation already provides for liability for inciting national and religious hatred, and the head of the committee, Leonid Levin, noted that the solution to the problem should not begin with the media.

The bill was submitted to the State Duma on December 1, 2015 by the Chechen parliament. Its authors proposed to include in the federal law “On Countering Terrorism” and Art. 4 of the law on the media, that the dissemination of information about the nationality and religious affiliation of persons involved in terrorist activities " is regarded as an insult to the national and religious feelings of honest, respectable citizens, true believers who have nothing to do with such activities, and is equated to actions aimed at inciting interethnic and interreligious hatred ."

On January 19, 2016, the State Duma Committee on Public Associations and Religious Organizations approved the bill. However, the State Duma legal department discovered a number of incorrect and unclear formulations and illegal proposals in the bill. The Committee on Nationalities in its conclusion concluded that a direct ban on mentioning national and religious affiliation is excessive. The Russian government in its official response directly stated that in addition to the fact that the amendments do not define specific penalties for violating the law, this prohibition in itself is not consistent with Art. 19 of the Russian Constitution.

The SOVA Center has repeatedly drawn attention to the problem of unmotivated mention of the ethnic and religious affiliation of participants in criminal episodes in the media. In our opinion, this is a powerful tool for the formation of negative ethnic stereotypes. However, situations are quite possible in which such references may well be motivated, and descriptions of crimes without them lose their meaning. In our opinion, the mention or lack of mention of ethnic or religious affiliation in crime chronicles is a matter of responsibility and professional level of the journalist, and is by no means a subject of legislative prohibition.

Previously, proposals to ban references to the nationality and religion of criminals were made in 2006 - 2007 ,2010 and 2012 .

Sources

• The Duma Committee did not support the bill banning mention in the media of the religious affiliation of terrorists // Interfax-Religion. 2016. April 15.
• Bill No. 942687-6. On amendments to the Federal Law “On Combating Terrorism” and Article 4 of the Law of the Russian Federation “On the Mass Media” (in terms of expanding the list of information prohibited for dissemination by the media) // Website of the State Duma. 2016. April 15.