A Pskov oppositionist is being held accountable for a video of Hitler on his son’s social network page.

On the page of the son of the activist of the Pskov headquarters of Navalny, the police found a video "Discofuhrer".

On June 7, 2018, an activist of Alexei Navalny's headquarters in Pskov, Pavel Chernov, was summoned to a meeting of the commission on juvenile affairs. A protocol was drawn up against him under Part 1 of Art. 5.35 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (improper performance of parental duties).

As Chernov said, the police had complaints against him because of the video "Discofuhrer", which was found on the page of his 11-year-old son on the social network. The protocol stated that posting the video constitutes an administrative offense under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (mass distribution of extremist materials), although the video is not included in the Federal List of Extremist Materials. The Commission on Juvenile Affairs returned the case materials to the police to eliminate the shortcomings, pointing out a possible violation of Part 1 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (public display of Nazi symbols).

The "Discofuehrer" video is a compilation of several photographs and film stills, mostly of Hitler. They are mounted in such a way that it seems to the viewer that the Fuhrer is moving to the rhythm of the sounding dance composition (Mo-Do - Eins Zwei Polizei). One of the frames contains several images of the swastika. We believe that this video is purely entertaining and does not in itself carry any propaganda load, so it is inappropriate to punish for its publication outside the context of propaganda of Nazi ideology. Unfortunately, the current wording of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses allows you to prosecute for any display of Nazi symbols, regardless of the context.

Sources

• Svetlana Prokopieva. In Pskov, the organizer of the rallies is brought to justice // Radio Liberty. 2018. June 7th.