The first time is forgiven, the second time is prohibited

The decriminalization of the article of the Criminal Code, which allows you to send users of social networks for reposts of records with “extremist content”, will occur, but only partial. This was reported by Interfax with reference to a source "familiar with the preparation of the document, which is currently being discussed in the expert community."

“Most likely, the concept of administrative prejudice will be introduced into the bill, when administrative liability is provided for the first offense, and criminal for the subsequent offenses,” the agency’s interlocutor said. Thus, he is sure, the unintentional and random actions of the Internet users will not fall under criminal articles.

The co -author of the bill, a deputy from the Communist Party faction Sergei Shargunov, said he supported such an approach. “Let such a first warning will be. In fact, such a proposal, if it comes from the government, confirms the correctness of the bill introduced by us. Even in this form, it would be nice, of course, ”Shargunov said on Monday Interfax.

He noted that “often people without any evil intent simply put some kind of song on VKontakte and suddenly fall into these“ millstones ”, so the task of the authors of the bill is to at least not make criminals suspected immediately.”

Arrested in court / AGN "Moscow" / Photo: Zykov Kirill

Now, we recall, the Criminal Code provides for a punishment of up to five years in prison for actions aimed at initiating hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity on the grounds of gender, race, rationality, language, origin, attitude to religion, belonging to the social group, committed publicly, using the media or the Internet. This definition also falls on the repost of the material, which can be post -factual recognized as an extremist court.

During the “direct line” about criminal punishment for reposts in social networks, the State Duma deputy from the Communist Party, writer Sergey Shargunov spoke. In his speech, Shargunov noted that in some cases "it comes literally to insanity." “If you literally perceive the 282nd article of the Criminal Code, then it is necessary to posthumously condemn Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Mayakovsky, and their works should be removed,” the writer said. He also expressed anxiety for users of social networks, especially for young people "who should not be frightened."

President Putin then agreed with Shargunov and noted that law enforcement practice should be “in the field of public view” in these cases. “There is no need to bring everything to insanity and to the point of absurdity. Let us, within the framework of the ONF, will analyze what is happening. It is necessary to attract the Supreme Court to decide on the concepts, ”Putin said.

Sergey Shargunov / AGN "Moscow" / Photo: Zykov Kirill

As a result, at the end of June, Sergey Shargunov and another deputy, representative of the Rodina party, Alexei Zhuravlev, submitted bills to the parliament, which replace criminal liability for reposts on the Internet with an administrative one. The authors propose to remove the mention of the media and the Internet from the Criminal Code and leave only the current criminal punishment up to six years in prison for the initiation of hatred and enmity, humiliation of human dignity according to the same signs, committed using violence or using an official position, as well as an organized group.

According to the estimates of the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court, since 2011 the number of convicts under the article-282 of the Criminal Code has been sharply growing, including 118 people in 2012, in 2013-174 people, in 2014-258 people, and in 2015-already 369 people. Sergey Shargunov says that "numbers are talking about the intensity of hunting."