Unlawful anti-extremism in May 2016

We publish an overview of the main and most significant developments in the field of illegal application of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in May 2016.

Rulemaking

In mid-May, the State Duma adopted in the first reading, a package of two bills on combating terrorist and extremist activity, introduced by a member of the Federation Council Viktor Ozerov and deputy Irina Yarovaya. Recall bills provide for an unprecedented increase in penalties for crimes terrorist and extremist orientation, contain a number of repressive procedural innovations, etc. (see more details here ; our assessment of the bills is here ). legal The State Duma Department formulated a number of comments on the bills. Supreme Court criticized the draft law on amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, in particular in connection with tougher penalties for extremist crimes. But the Government Russia approved the bill urging only to reduce the period of storage of citizens' correspondence. Rights Council person under the President of Russia   offered to withdraw the package. And we agree with this. First, law enforcement practice has not revealed prerequisites for tightening measures to combat extremism and terrorism (for example, the prosecution almost never asks maximum penalties under "extremist" articles). Secondly, the fight against extremism and even terrorism does not require or justify new measures, yet more restrictive of human rights - to freedom of speech, religion, information, privacy and freedom of movement.

Network national domain focal point Internet (KC) intends to give Roskomnadzor the right to out-of-court segregate (that is, take away from owners) domain names of sites in zones ".ru" and ".rf", through which, in particular, extremist materials The proposed measure is unacceptable for two reasons: firstly, it is essentially extrajudicial confiscation, and secondly, it is not aiming (it is worth introducing a network library), but taking into account the length and the quality of the list of prohibited materials, it will inevitably result in new abuses and attacks on freedom of speech.

Criminal prosecution

At the beginning of the month Zavolzhsky The district court of Tver sentenced Andrey Bubeev to two years in prison for settlement colonies. Recall that the case of public incitement to extremism via the Internet (Part 1 of Art. 2 tbsp. 280 of the Criminal Code) and public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation (part 2 of article 280.1 of the Criminal Code), was initiated in September 2015 for reposting in the social network "VKontakte" articles of a publicist Boris Stomakhin about Crimea and a drawing in which a hand squeezes toothpaste out of tube with the inscription "Squeeze Russia out of yourself" with an accompanying inscription that the only form of protest should be " active the destruction of " Russia with clarification" as they did Chechens in their time, for example " . We We consider Bubeev's sentence under Art. 280.1, unlawful, since we believe that citizens have the right to openly express their opinion on joining Russia new territory. In view of the previous verdict under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting national hatred) and Part 1 Art. 222 of the Criminal Code (illegal acquisition and possession of weapons) Bubeev will spend two years and three months in a colony.

In mid-May, the leader of the movement "Russian Astrakhan" Igor Stenin was sentenced to two years in a colony-settlement Part 2 Art. 280 of the Criminal Code. Stenin was found guilty in the publication in the social network "VKontakte" posts on the topic of the war in Ukraine, he was also charged with a comment left by another user. With our point of view, a short entry appearing in the criminal case with a call to destruction of the " Kremlin occupiers " cannot be considered call for extremist activities. Collective image "Kremlin occupiers", used in past years by dissatisfied citizens to the authorities, obviously received an even wider and less targeted interpretation in connection with the Ukrainian events. Take it figurative expression as a direct call for reprisals against representatives of some a certain social group is impossible, and earlier law enforcement agencies did not persecuted citizens for this popular slogan, without giving it much values. If, nevertheless, it is interpreted as a call for active action against Russian authorities, it should be noted that the representatives of the authorities do not form a vulnerable social group that would need special protection in the form of anti-extremist articles of the Criminal Code, and in addition, we are talking about actions outside the territory of Russia. Generally we believe that the Ukrainian crisis inevitably provokes many to extreme statements that are not characteristic of them at another time, and in this situation it is more expedient not to resort to criminal prosecution even for the most drastic statements, if they do not contain the corpus delicti in the clearest and most unambiguous form. It should also be noted the unjustified severity of the sentence Stenin - two years of real time. The defense announced its intention to appeal sentence.

In mid-May, the artist Pyotr Pavlensky was sentenced under Part 2 of Art. 214 of the Criminal Code (vandalism committed by a group of persons prior conspiracy) on the fact of the action "Freedom". World Court of St. Petersburg on the road meeting in the Preobrazhensky Court of Moscow sentenced Pavlensky to 1 year and 4 months of restriction of freedom, but released him from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations bringing to criminal responsibility. Previously the court tried to close the case due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, however, this proved impossible due to the defendant's refusal. Defense intends appeal the verdict. Recall that in February 2014, five participants of the action "Svoboda" in support of the Euromaidan deployed on the Maly Konyushenny bridge, opposite the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, black flag and state flag Ukraine, laid out and set fire to tires and pounded with sticks on metal sheets. Despite the fact that Pavlensky was not charged with the motive of hatred, We consider his sentence unjustified. First, due to the lack corpus delicti: no property was damaged during the action (the largest the damage from the actions of the actionists was the soot on the pavement), i.e. these actions do not meet the definition of vandalism in the Criminal Code. Secondly, Pavlensky has already been involved in administrative responsibility for the same actions.

In the middle of the month, the Crimean prosecutor's office announced initiation of a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code against the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis Crimean Tatar people Ilmi Umerov. The reason was Umerov's speech in March 2016 live on ATP TV channel in Ukraine. Umerov was detained in Bakhchisarai and taken to the FSB headquarters in Simferopol, he underwent searched, a written undertaking not to leave was taken from him. Recall that we believe unlawful persecution of Crimean Tatar activists for calling for the return of Crimea Ukraine: it is impossible to blame people for separatism who initially opposed annexation of this territory to Russia. Note also that from the point of view international law, the question of the legality of the annexation of Crimea to Russia is not entirely is clear, and citizens are entitled to their point of view in this dispute.

At the beginning of the month it became known that the Investigative the Department of the RF IC for Sevastopol opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282 UK (incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity) on the fact of the incident with the substitution of the anthem in April at the opening of the meeting public expert council under the governor of Sevastopol. Recall that then the hall sounded a parody version of the Russian anthem "Russia is mad our power." The organizers explained the incident by a malfunction sound engineers who mistakenly downloaded the wrong version from the Internet. Initially, the city authorities urged not to dramatize the situation and not stir up a scandal around what happened. However, Crimean law enforcement bodies keen on the use of anti-extremist articles could not resist and ignore even such a minor and comical incident. With our point of view, to initiate a criminal case under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code in this case is not there were reasons, since the indicated version of the anthem does not contain signs inciting hatred towards anyone, and critical statements about the state are not are subject to Art. 282 of the Criminal Code or any other article of the Russian legislation. However, the Federation Council immediately made a proposal introduce criminal penalties for insulting the Russian anthem, and at the moment a draft law is being prepared.

At the end of May, it became known that the Leninsky District Court of Omsk sentenced eighteen-year-old Alexander Razhin, a student at the Omsk University of Railways messages, to 120 hours of corrective labor under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code. Razhin in June 2014, under a pseudonym, posted a comment on the news about Cancellation of Marilyn Manson concert in Omsk as a result of Orthodox pressure activists. The comment was qualified by the authors of linguistic expertise as containing "signs of humiliation of the dignity of a group of people (Orthodox Christians - approx. ed.) on religious grounds". Recall that we We believe that humiliation of dignity should be removed from the criminal articles as an act of minor gravity.

At the end of the month Berdsk City Court of the Novosibirsk region passed a guilty verdict on Maxim Kormelitsky, published on his page "VKontakte" photo "with image of people swimming in the hole" and an offensive inscription. The case was initiated at the request of Orthodox activist Yuri Zadoya. The court recognized Kormelitsky guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code for inciting religious hatred, sentenced to year of the colony-settlement and added three more months to the punishment, since before In addition, he was sentenced to a suspended sentence (Kormelitsky was repeatedly convicted earlier and another case against him is being investigated in parallel). We got acquainted with image (photo with an inscription), for which Kormelitsky was convicted. WITH from our point of view, it did not pose any danger and did not give rise to for criminal prosecution.

In Korsakov, Sakhalin Region, the local department The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against a local resident for Part 1 Art. 282 of the Criminal Code. He is accused of inciting religious hatred for distribution of a prohibited brochure in the entrance of one of the houses "Testimony of Jesus-Christ". From our point of view, this brochure Yehovists-Ilyins is called upon to affirm the truth of the version of Christianity, revealed to its author, and the falsity of all other denominations. We consider her ban and persecution for her distribution is illegal, since propaganda of the superiority of one's own religion over others, according to the Supreme Court, cannot be considered as incitement to hatred, and there is no incitement to violence in the text of the pamphlet.

The Soviet District Court of Chelyabinsk in mid-May sentenced a local resident Yakov Tselyuk to two years of imprisonment with a two-year probation term and restriction of freedom for one year for hours. 2 Article. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, recognizing it guilty of involvement in the activities of a banned religious association "Nurcular". According to investigators, Tselyuk converted to Islam and since November 2012 from February 2013 distributed Saeed's audiobooks among users Nursi, one of which was recognized as extremist, and also made seven reposts with quotes from banned books. The case was considered in a special order, because Tselyuk fully admitted his guilt. We consider it illegal as a ban the books of the Turkish theologian Said Nursi, as well as the prohibition of association "Nurcular", which did not exist in Russia at all: there are only individual believers who study the legacy of Nursi and face unfounded persecution.

In May, we became aware that in mid-March, in Krasnoyarsk, Andrei Dedkov and Andrei Rekst were detained and later arrested. Both were charged: Dedkov - under Part 1, and Rekstyu - under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. They are also accused of involvement in the activities of "Nurcular". Currently, Dedkov is being held in a pre-trial detention center, Rekst has been released on bail. According to investigators, from May 2015 to March 2016, Dedkov "organized the Nurcular cell" , organized religious meetings in apartments, where he discussed books with believers Nursi taught them to distribute, and Rekst took part in this.

In mid-May, they were detained in Bakhchisaray and then arrested four suspects of involvement in a banned religious Hizb ut-Tahrir party - Remzi Memetov, Zevri Abseitov and Rustem Abiltarov and Enver Mamutov. A criminal case under part 2 was initiated against three Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of a terrorist organization), in in relation to one more - under Part 1 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of the activities of such an organization). As a reminder, we believe that persecution of members "Hizb ut-Tahrir" on anti-terrorist articles only on the basis of party activities (holding meetings, reading literature, etc.) is unlawful.

Administrative persecution

According to Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for demonstration of Nazi symbols without propaganda intent in May, according to To our knowledge, two people were wrongfully prosecuted. The director of the shopping center was fined four thousand rubles in Blagoveshchensk (Amur Region) for being 23 February, a congratulatory poster with German tanks and FW 190 aircraft, and this happens due to the negligence of designers throughout country. In the Kemerovo region, the court fined the pastor of the Association Christian Eucharistic communities of Alexander Khmelev for 1,000 rubles for publications on the VKontakte social network with an image swastikas. As the priest himself explained, the swastika in the images published by him really was, however the relevant posts were "about those who from Russia are going to fight on Donbass, who were caught in Lugansk and Donetsk with tattoos of Nazi symbols, that is, precisely about the dangers of such and its carriers .

In May, we learned that under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, one person was prosecuted for distributing illegally prohibited materials or storing them for the purpose of distribution. Ilgar Huseynov, an imam from the Mirmamed Mosque prayer house in Chapaevsk, Samara Region, was fined 3,000 rubles for distributing a collection of prayers, The Muslim Fortress, which was groundlessly recognized as extremist; earlier, Huseynov was also unlawfully held liable under this article.

In the city of Neryungri (Republic of Sakha-Yakutia), three school directors were fined Part 1 Art. 6.17 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the established requirements for distribution among children of information products containing information that is harmful to their health and/or development). City check prosecutor's office showed that school students could get access to extremist materials on the Internet. We believe that content filtering programs, like are generally ineffective and school personnel should not be held responsible for this. responsibility.

In Volsk, Saratov Region, liable for Part 2 Art. 6.17 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (non-use by the person organizing access to the distributed through information and telecommunication networks of information in places, child-accessible technical measures, software and hardware to protect children from information harmful to their health and (or) development) was attracted the owner of the anti-cafe "Cube", which provided the service of access to Internet, but no content filter has been set. We oppose attraction responsible for the lack of content filtering of the cafe administration, Internet cafes, hotels and other similar establishments, as they are designed not only on children (supervised by parents), but also on adults users whose rights should not be restricted.

Liquidation of organizations for extremism and other government measures

In mid-May, the Department of the Ministry of Justice of Russia for Oryol region filed an application with the regional court for the liquidation of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses "Eagle" for the implementation extremist activity. On the same day, it suspended operations community until the court considers the issue of its liquidation. In addition, over the past month to three local organizations of Jehovah's Witnesses - in Serov (Sverdlovsk region), Tikhoretsk (Krasnodar Territory) and Chapaevsk (Samara Region) - failed to challenge the warnings about the inadmissibility of extremist activity, which puts them under threat of liquidation. Recall that we are considering attempts to liquidate organizations Jehovah's Witnesses for extremism, persecution of members of their communities and bans texts as religious discrimination.

At the end of the month, Crimean journalist Lilya Budzhurova reported that she had received a warning from the Prosecutor's Office of Simferopol about the inadmissibility of violating the law on countering extremist activities and media legislation. The document states that Budzhurova in social networks Facebook and on the website of the Center investigative journalism calls on Crimean Tatars to protest and attempts to incite national and religious hatred and enmity. From our point of view, the statements described in the warning female journalists do not contain any attacks against certain ethnic or religious groups, do not call for illegal actions and do not even hint on the possibility of such - on the contrary, Budzhurova emphasizes that protesting need by legal means. The specified text on the website of the Center for Journalistic investigation contains only a call for the creation of a fund to help the children of the arrested Crimean Muslims. Thus, the grounds for issuing Budzhurova there was no warning.