Vladimir Luzgin filed a complaint with the ECHR

Convicted under Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code, a Permian is challenging the verdict.

Permyak Vladimir Luzgin, fined 200 thousand rubles in 2016 under art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (denial of the facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the trial and punishment of the main war criminals of the European Axis countries, approval of the crimes established by the said verdict, as well as dissemination of deliberately false information about the activities of the USSR during the Second World War, committed publicly), filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). She entered court on March 1.

Luzgin points out in the complaint that the actions of the Russian authorities violated Art. 7 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, which guarantees punishment solely on the basis of the law. According to the plaintiff, to the denial of the facts established by the Nuremberg Tribunal, the courts equated the statements about the facts of the Second World War, which the Tribunal did not establish. The assertion that certain events took place cannot be seen as a denial of Nazi crimes, said Kirill Koroteyev, legal director of Memorial, who represents Luzgin's interests. In addition, Luzgin is not a professional historian, and the controversial article of the Criminal Code applies to opinions and value judgments, without clear criteria for the falsity of information, the lawyer claims. According to the plaintiff, Art. 10 of the Convention on Freedom of Expression: Russian interference in this constitutional right is disproportionate, does not pursue legitimate goals and does not serve the public interest, Luzgin is sure. He states that he did not deny the crimes of the Nazis, did not call for violence and hatred, and besides, he is not a public person and distributed the post incriminated to him on the social network for a narrow circle of users. The punishment is clearly punitive and has a "chilling effect" on historical discussion, the complaint says.

Vladimir Luzgin was sentenced in June 2016 by the Perm Regional Court and approved by the Supreme Court on September 1. The court considered that the article "15 Facts About the Banderaites, or What the Kremlin is Silent About", which Luzgin published, contains deliberately false facts about the joint attack of the USSR and Germany on Poland on September 1, 1939 and the unleashing of World War II by these states, not reflected in judgment of the Nuremberg Tribunal. According to the court, Luzgin deliberately spread false information because he supports the ideas of Ukrainian nationalism.

We believe that Luzgin's sentence was unlawful. From our point of view, the article "15 facts about Bandera" among other things contains a free interpretation of the essence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, however, we believe that interpretation, ignorance, incorrect presentation, even deliberate distortion of historical facts should not be a reason for criminal prosecution if only they are not accompanied by appeals that incite hatred and pose an immediate danger today (and such appeals are subject to prosecution under Article 282 of the Criminal Code). Therefore, we opposed the adoption of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code , the wording of which (in particular, the dissemination of "false information about the activities of the USSR during the Second World War") makes it possible to punish historical discussion and thereby violate the right to freedom of speech.

Sources

• Anna Pushkarskaya, Vladimir Khvostik. The Strasbourg court will deal with the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal // Kommersant. 2017. March 3.