ONF announced an expert meeting on anti-extremist law enforcement

The All-Russian Popular Front began working on the president’s instructions to analyze law enforcement in the field of combating extremism.

At the beginning of July 2018, an expert meeting will be held at the site of the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) on the practice of applying anti-extremist legislation. The decision on this was made during a discussion in which State Duma deputy Sergei Shargunov, coordinator of legislative initiatives of the ONF in the State Duma Natalya Kostenko, experts and lawyers of the ONF, representatives of the ONF Youth, as well as journalist Ekaterina Vinokurova (Znak.com) took part.

The ONF began considering anti-extremist law enforcement on behalf of Vladimir Putin, whichfollowed Shargunov’s question to the president during the direct line.

According to Kostenko, earlier the issue of absurd accusations of extremism on the Internet was actively discussed on the sidelines of the ONF “Truth and Justice” media forum, which was held in March. In addition, regional journalists who encountered a problem have repeatedly contacted the center for legal support for journalists of the ONF.

Ekaterina Vinokurova noted during the discussion that the very concept of “extremism” now includes “ a fairly broad and often abstract list of acts .”

" Another problem is the examination of extremist cases. It is completely unclear what is written in these documents, and at the same time, the expert’s position is the cornerstone of the accusation; in fact, it turns out that the expert signs a person’s sentence. The third problem is likes and reposts on social networks. For example , on VKontakte you cannot repost with any mark. People post, and it turns out that they are imprisoned for spreading extremism. In addition, under some criminal articles, it is necessary to discuss the issue of the repetition of the act, if a person reposted once, out of ignorance, he should be immediately prosecuted. Criminal liability seems unfair to us ,” Vinokurova said.

Shargunov agreed that “ we need to agree on law enforcement practice ,” and maybe on legislative changes. “ After all, young people are often held accountable under such charges, and their lives are ruined ,” he emphasized.

According to the ONF, representatives of law enforcement, supervisory authorities, the Supreme Court of Russia and other interested parties will take part in the expert meeting.

Sources

• ONF will discuss the problems of law enforcement of articles on extremism // Website of the All-Russian People's Front. 2018. June 19.