A criminal case has been initiated in Tatarstan under Art. 282 and 148 CC

Twenty-year-old Artem Ibragimov is accused of inciting national and religious hatred and insulting the feelings of believers.

17 August 2017, the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Republic of Tatarstan reported about initiation of a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282 (inciting hatred) and part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code (insulting the feelings of believers) in relation to a twenty-year-old Artyom Ibragimov.

According to the UK, " in November 2015, Ibragimov posted in one of the social networks, the text, which, according to the conclusion of the linguistic forensic examination contains statements expressing a hostile attitude one group of persons to another, united on the basis of belonging to nationality, language, religion. In addition, in May 2016, in another social networks to photographs of the Epiphany and Peter and Paul Cathedrals in the city of Kazan, and also the Raifa Monastery and the Cathedral of Our Lady "Joy of All Who Sorrow" on Island-Grade Sviyazhsk, the defendant posted comments, the content of which according to the conducted psychological research, it is capable of provoking the emergence of ethnic negativism, national strife, ethno-fanaticism. Also, according to the conducted psychological research, semantic the content of the comments is aimed at insulting the religious feelings of Christians, to incite sectarian strife and hatred ."

Since we are unfamiliar with the content comments published by Ibragimov, we cannot judge the validity of his persecution under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code for inciting national and religious hate. However, in principle, we consider the persecution under CC to be unlawful. 1 and 2 tbsp. 148 of the Criminal Code. The vague concept of "insulting feelings" believers", included in Article 148 of the Criminal Code, from our point of view, has no and may not have a clear legal meaning. The existence of an article in the Russian Criminal Code 148 in its current form violates the right of citizens to freedom of speech and freedom conscience.

Sources

• In the Republic of Tatarstan, a local resident is accused of violating the right to freedom of conscience and religion // Website of the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Tatarstan. 2017. August 17.