Unlawful anti-extremism in May 2017

We publish an overview of the main and most significant events in the field of misuse of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in May 2017.

Rulemaking

24 May 2017 Vladimir Putin signed the law on administrative supervision of persons released from places of deprivation of liberty. According to the law, the provisions on administrative supervision, changes are introduced that affect, in particular, the fate of those convicted under anti-extremist and anti-terrorist articles. Now convicted of grave and especially grave crimes under a number of articles of the Criminal Code, including st.st. 205.2 part 2, 205.5, 278, 282 part 2, 282.1, 282.2, according to which, from our points of view, often hand down wrongful sentences, upon release there will be be under administrative supervision until the conviction is expunged.

Criminal prosecution

At the end of May the presidium The Astrakhan Regional Court overturned the sentence of nationalist Igor Stenin, convicted under Part 2 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for the implementation of extremist activities via the Internet), terminating the case due to the lack of composition crimes. In the first days of June, Stenin was released. Recall, Stenin, the leader movement "Russian Astrakhan", in May 2016 was sentenced by the Soviet District Court of Astrakhan to two years in a colony-settlement. The court recognized him guilty of posting on the social network VKontakte under a pseudonym "Ingvar Stefan" records on the theme of the war in Ukraine; he was also charged with blame the comment of another user, which the investigation mistakenly took for repost. The Astrakhan Regional Court approved the verdict, but in April 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia ordered him to consider a cassation appeal against sentence. From our point of view, the criminal prosecution of Stenin was unlawful, since the short recording with call for destruction" Kremlin occupiers "could not be regarded as a call for extremist activities. More about our position on this case, we wrote here .

In the middle of the month Verkh-Isetsky Yekaterinburg court found video blogger from Yekaterinburg Ruslan Sokolovsky guilty in incitement of religious and national hatred (part 1 of article 282 of the Criminal Code), insulting the feelings of believers (part 1 of article 148 of the Criminal Code), as well as in illegal circulation special technical means (Article 138.1 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced him to 3.5 years suspended sentence with a probationary period of three years and a ban on participation in public events. The court pointed out that the videos, in the placement of which the blogger was found guilty on the network should be removed. Protection appealed the verdict. Recall that allegations of incitement to hatred and insulting the feelings of believers were brought against Sokolovsky for publishing videos full of provocative statements addressed to various groups, from migrants to feminists and philanthropists, but above all by saying atheistic nature, which attracted the attention of law enforcement organs. Among other things, as an insult to the feelings of believers, the filmed blogger a story about how he caught Pokemon in the Yekaterinburg Cathedral of the Intercession on Blood. We believe that Sokolovsky could only be charged with humiliation dignity, which, from our point of view, should be excluded from Art. 282 of the Criminal Code as an act that does not pose a significant public danger.

Just a few days later, the World Court of the Western District of Belgorod recognized the 22-year-old resident of the city guilty of the same part. 1 Article. 148 of the Criminal Code. Taking into account softening circumstances, including the presence of a minor child, she was assigned punishment in the form of a fine in the amount of 15 thousand rubles. The reason for the persecution was what the Belgorod woman posted on the page on the social network "VKontakte" photos in which she lights up from a candle in Orthodox church. We consider it illegal this verdict. Although a resident of Belgorod violated the accepted rules of conduct in the temple, her actions apparently did not attract the attention of those present there believers, did not cause damage to objects of worship and did not represent a significant danger to society.

Recall that we opposed amendments, according to which Art. 148 of the Criminal Code introduced "insult feelings of believers", since we believe that this indefinite concept is not has and cannot have a clear legal meaning. It is no coincidence that criminal cases this article is causing a heated public discussion.

In mid-May, the Prokhladnensky District Court of Kabardino-Balkaria began considering the case of a follower of the Witnesses Jehovah Arkady Hakobyan, who was accused of inciting religious hatred under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code. According to investigators, Hakobyan made a speech in which he humiliated dignity of representatives of other religions. He is also charged with distributing among co-religionists banned religious literature.

At the end of the month in Orel against a follower Jehovah's Witnesses were prosecuted under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 CC (organization of the activities of an organization banned for extremism). Charge brought Danish citizen Dennis Christensen, he was arrested for two months. In the case, searches were carried out in the homes of members of the local community, religious literature, including the Bible, laptops, tablets and hard drives. Recall that the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in Orel was recognized as extremist in 2016, with the Supreme Court upholding this decision. In addition, in 2017 year, the Supreme Court decided to liquidate the Administrative Center Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia with all local religious organizations, included in its composition. We believe that the elimination of Witness organizations Jehovah for extremism, the persecution of members of their communities and the prohibition of texts have no legal grounds and are a clear manifestation of religious discrimination.

In mid-May, the Vysokogorsky District Court of the Republic of Tatarstan sentenced Tatar nationalist Airat Shakirov to a fine of 100 thousand rubles under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (inciting hatred or enmity) for publication in social networks "VKontakte" of the banned video "02/08/2013 rally in Makhachkala", but released him from punishment due to the expiration of prescription. Shakirov himself said that he did not post this video on the social network, as well as and some others, which he also found on his page, considers what happened as a provocation by the FSB, caused by its active public activities, and is going to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court of Tatarstan and reach the ECtHR. It should be noted that Shakirov has previously faced prosecution "for extremism". The video that served as a pretext for the persecution of the activist on this time, it was found on his page, forbidden by the Vakhitovsky district court Kazan and included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials. It is a recording of a speech by a member of Ahlu Sunna" Gadzhimagomed Mahmudov at an agreed rally against arbitrariness of the security forces on February 8, 2013 in Makhachkala. emotional Mahmudov's speech reflected his indignation at the plight of Muslims in Russia, but did not contain any dangerous appeals, and no grounds for her From our point of view, there was no ban.

In May, two people were convicted under Part 2 of Art. 282 Criminal Code for participation in the activities of the banned religious movement Tablighi Jamaat. Naberezhnye Chelny City Court of the Republic of Tatarstan sentenced Rinat Minnegulov to a sentence of 1 year and 8 months in prison to be served punishment in a correctional colony of general regime with restriction of liberty for a term for 6 months. Recall that earlier in Naberezhnye Chelny, nine supporters of Tablighi were convicted. Jamaat", all of them, like Minnegulov, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to real timeframes. Zheleznodorozhny district court of Ulan-Ude sentenced to 2 years 6 I. Artykova was sentenced to months of imprisonment conditionally with a probationary period of 3 years. His was accused of holding talks in order to promote the activities of Tablighi Jamaat", using the forbidden book of the founder of the movement. Recall that religious association "Tablighi Jamaat" was banned in Russia in 2009, and we regard this ban as unlawful. The movement was engaged propaganda of Islam and was not seen in any calls for violence, therefore persecution of his supporters, we consider unjustified.

Administrative persecution

In May, we became aware of four cases of involvement in liability under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for displaying Nazi symbols and symbols of banned organizations, not related to the propaganda of the relevant ideas.

In the Penza region, Ivan Gorodisky, an activist of the Western Choice party, received ten days of arrest for publishing in "VKontakte" pictures with a crossed out hammer and sickle and a swastika and a reworked caricature of the Kukryniksy with a swastika and Hitler, from which Putin's mask falls off. A resident of Krasnoyarsk was fined 2,000 rubles with confiscation of the laptop for posting it on VKontakte 20 pictures with a swastika, including images with Putin and Nazi symbols or in the company of Hitler, as well as a picture with the emblem of the "Right sector". Probably, Krasnoyarsk really is a supporter of the banned Ukrainian nationalist organization and published its emblem in propaganda purposes, and used the swastika only as a way to accuse the Russian authorities of totalitarianism. Fyodor Moiseev, an activist from Naberezhnye Chelny, was fined one thousand rubles for the publication in the social network of two  pictures with Nazi symbols. He insists that the images used not to promote Nazism, but as arguments in discussions with others users, the real reason for his persecution was disclosure by him of information about the overestimation of the payment for major repairs for residents Naberezhnye Chelny and the intention to transfer documents about abuses to management Federal Antimonopoly Service. In Cheboksary local headquarters coordinator Alexei Navalny Semyon Kochkin was fined one and a half thousand rubles for what did the repost of an excerpt from a satirical program on VKontakte Last Week Tonight with John Oliver titled "Like Chechen Girls swindled ISIS fighters." In a video that did not pursue the goal of propaganda ideology and practice of the "Islamic State" banned in Russia, flashed flag of the organization, which was the reason for the fine. Recall that the current Russian legislation allows punishing public display of prohibited symbolism without regard to context. We consider this practice unlawful and We are in favor of revising the relevant regulations.

For mass distribution is illegal, with our point of view, prohibited materials under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses were fined as at least two people.

A resident of Murom was sentenced to a fine for the song "Synagogue" group "The Ensemble of Christ the Savior and Mother Earth Cheese", posted on its page on VKontakte. From our point of view, the grounds for recognizing this song was not extremist, because it has a satirical character and does not propagate, but ridicules anti-Semitism.

Khostinsky District Court of Sochi fined a local resident, follower of the Chinese spiritual practice "Falun Gong" Sergei Baldanov for three thousand rubles and confiscated Li Hongzhi's book "Falun Dafa." Baldanov was found guilty of spreading extremist materials is groundless, since it is prohibited and included in the Federal List extremist materials another book by Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi is Zhuan Falun. From our point of view, no there were no signs of extremism in this treatise. Note also that the book "Falun Dafa" Baldanov did not "distribute en masse", but gave his copy to read a girl who was interested in the exercises he did in the local park. The girl turned out to be a local fighter against "sects" and brought her to the park FSB officers, and then acted as a witness in court; she had previously given testimony in the case of a Pentecostal pastor fined for public reading Bibles in a cafe.

IN In May, we also learned about two cases where Jehovah's Witnesses were fined under Part. 1 st. 20.28 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (organization of the activities of a religious association, in in respect of which a decision was made to suspend its activities), both decisions were made in April, when the activities of the Management Center Jehovah's Witnesses has been suspended. The court in Kyzyl (Republic of Tyva) fined for a thousand rubles to the head of the local community after an anonymous report that in some house " people gather, talk on religious topics, and also discuss the topic of a possible end of the world "; the head of the community in the city Uchaly in Bashkiria was sentenced to a fine for organizing a prayer meeting in a rented space.