The ECHR communicated the complaint of a Cheboksary activist about punishment under Art. 20.29 Code of Administrative Offenses

The complaint of Alena Blinova, who was fined for reposting Vitaly Milonov's opinion about persecution for the slogan "Orthodoxy or death", has been communicated.

On May 14, 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated the complaint of the Cheboksary oppositionist Alena Blinova (according to her passport - Elena Romanova) to a fine under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (mass distribution of extremist materials).

April 13, 2017 by Blinova was fined 1,000 rubles on the Leninsky District Court of Cheboksary for spreading the banned slogan "Orthodoxy or Death." The reason for this decision was that the activist made a repost of the opinion of the deputy Vitaly Milonov on the persecution of the coordinator of Open Russia in Chuvashia, Dmitry Semenov, in the Art Preparation Bad News group on the social network VKontakte for spreading this slogan. As Blinova pointed out in her complaint to the ECtHR, the court banned the video recording of the meeting on the grounds that it could contribute to the dissemination of extremist materials, and also rejected the request for a linguistic examination of Milonov's statement. On June 1, 2017, the Supreme Court of Chuvashia upheld this decision, and on June 28, the administration of Cheboksary refused to approve the mass event, citing the fact that she was brought to administrative responsibility under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. After that, Blinova complained to the Strasbourg court, pointing out the violation by the Russian side of Art. 10 (freedom of expression) and Art. 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ECHR asked the Russian side to provide copies of the court's decision to ban the slogan "Orthodoxy or death" and the decision of the investigating authorities to refuse to open a criminal case against Milonov for wearing a T-shirt with this phrase. In addition, Russia will have to answer a number of questions. Firstly, the ECtHR is interested in whether the Russian courts, when considering the Blinova case, applied standards consistent with the principles of Art. 10 of the Convention; whether the context of the publications was taken into account and whether the legitimate aim of the interference with Blinova's right to expression was established; whether the decision was predictable given that Milonov was not prosecuted for the mentioned slogan; whether the courts have considered the issue of the proportionality of the sanction and the possibility of replacing the fine with a warning or other less severe measure sufficient to provide the desired deterrent effect. Secondly, the ECtHR wants to understand whether the legislative ban on organizing public events pursues any legitimate goal for those prosecuted under "extremist" administrative articles and whether it was proportionate in the case of Blinova.

Note that we consider the ban on the slogan "Orthodoxy or death" to be unlawful. This slogan is popular among the aggressive part of representatives of some Orthodox organizations (for example, the Union of Orthodox banner-bearers), however, historically it belongs to one of the Athos monasteries and is interpreted not as a wish for death to non-Orthodox, but as a contrast between Orthodoxy and spiritual death: "either we will be Orthodox, or we will die spiritually ". It is all the more absurd to punish any mention of any prohibited material, especially a slogan.

Earlier, the ECHR communicated the complaint of Semyonov himself, who was fined three times for using the slogan "Orthodoxy or Death".

Sources

• Application no. 83310/17. Yelena Yuryevna ROMANOVA against Russia, lodged on 30 November 2017 // Website of the ECtHR. May 14, 2018