How to turn off microphones

Husky, Noize MC and other artists banned from performing in Russia

On the evening of November 21, the famous Russian rap artist Husky (real name Dmitry Kuznetsov) was detained in Krasnodar. His concert was supposed to take place at the local Bounce club, but even before the start of the event, the electricity was turned off on the site, and then a police squad arrived. In response, Husky began to read the texts to the people who left the club, standing on one of the cars. Soon he was detained and brought to the police station of the Central District of Krasnodar.

In the department, the rapper refused to undergo a medical examination. “Dmitry refused to pass it (examination. - Note), having his own reasons. He believes that the disruption of his concert is a planned action, some prosecutor did not like the text of several of his songs, ”lawyer Alexei Avanesyan told the Dozhd TV channel.

In the end, three administrative protocols were drawn up against Husky: on petty hooliganism associated with disobedience to the lawful demand of a representative of the authorities (part 2 of article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), organizing a mass stay of citizens in public places, public calls for mass simultaneous stay and (or) movement of citizens in public places (part 1 of article 20.2.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and on refusal to undergo a medical examination (part 1 of article 6.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

At the hearing, the rapper said that he did not admit his guilt. The judge eventually sentenced him to 12 days in jail.

Rapper Husky disrupted concerts in a number of cities

The day before the incident, security officials came to the Husky concert in Rostov-on-Don at the Rave club. Two police officers threatened to disrupt the event if the organizers did not sign a warning "not to allow extremist activities." As a result, the sound and lighting were turned off in the hall, Husky read the texts without music and a microphone.

On November 23, a Husky concert was supposed to take place at club in Volgograd the Royal Bar , but the day before the event, it became known that it was canceled. “About one thousand tickets have been sold out, the money will be returned on the day of the scheduled concert,” a site representative said in a commentary to RIA Novosti, without specifying the reasons for the cancellation.

The rapper's concert in Togliatti , which was supposed to take place on November 2, was also canceled at the request of the prosecutor's office.

On November 22, it also became known that Vladimir Petrov, a deputy from the Leningrad Region, turned to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika back in November with a request

take measures "to prevent the holding of ... official concerts of "rappers" in the Russian Federation until the situation in the youth environment normalizes."

The deputy told the Moskva Speaks agency that he had compiled a list of specific rappers to whom he had complaints and that, in addition to Husky, it included Oxxxymiron and Noize MC.

... and not only Huskies

In connection with the alleged calls for extremism in the songs, back in 2015 in the same Krasnodar Territory, the concert of another famous rapper Noize MC was canceled. This happened after warnings from the prosecutor's office and the city administration. The authorities recommended that the concert be canceled "in order to prevent possible violations of the current legislation on countering extremist activities."

The day before the cancellation of the concert, the prosecutor's office of the Karasunsky district of Krasnodar issued a warning about the inadmissibility of "extremism" at the Noize MC concert. The reason for the cancellation was the words of the rapper (real name Ivan Alekseev) about Ukraine, spoken in August 2014 at the Kubana music festival. Then Noize MC spoke words of support to Ukraine and dedicated the song to those who dislike people "just because they are of a different nationality." After that, the organizers of the festival turned off the microphone and cut out the rapper's statement from the air. In response, Alekseev left the stage, and later came out completely naked in protest.

In the same Krasnodar Territory, in July 2018, two journalists from Moloko plus, Pavel Nikulin and Sofiko Arifdzhanova, were attacked. Before the presentation of the almanac, they were detained by people in civilian clothes. Then an unknown person sprayed pepper spray into their eyes, shouting “Hello, Ukraine!”. The police came to the presentation itself, all the brought almanacs were confiscated. On the fact of the attack, a criminal case was initiated on causing minor bodily harm out of hooligan motives (paragraph “a” of part 2 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code). However, his investigation was suspended in October, as the identity of the perpetrator was not established.

“If we talk about the general level of violence, in Krasnodar it goes off scale. There, in general, it seems to me, there is a cleansing of the cultural and any alternative field, ”Nikulin says to Novaya Gazeta. He also recalls the beating in Krasnodar of environmentalist Andrey Rudomakha at the end of December 2017 and the attack on the “Putin Detachments”, which took place on the day Husky was detained.

“Krasnodar is such an Orthodox Chechnya, there is a human rights problem there,” he said.

Therefore, according to him, it is worth separating what happened to journalists in Krasnodar from what happened in St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod (where the creators of the almanac were also interfered with).

Nikulin says that “just by itself, and the fact that Husky is independent, already raises certain questions for him in power.”

In September, “concerned parents” from Nizhny Novgorod asked a number of authorities to check the Milo concert hall, as there were planned performances by performers who, according to representatives of the “parental community”, promote “alcohol, drug addiction, cannibalism and sadism.” Local media wrote that subsequently the concerts of such performers as Jah Khalib, Ganvest, Monetochka, Matrang and Eljey, which were supposed to take place at the Milo Concert Hall, were postponed to other dates. The announcement of the postponement was published in the community of the VKontakte concert hall, the Nizhny Novgorod publication Vremya N refused to comment on the reason for the incident.

At the end of October, the local prosecutor's office demanded that the concerts of five performers be canceled due to violations revealed during the organization. Promotional materials for upcoming events mentioned the age limit of 12+ or 16+. “In fact, compositions were performed at the events containing obscene language, as well as other information prohibited for distribution among children, including that that could make them want to drink alcohol and prohibited substances, as well as commit actions that pose a threat to their life and health or life and health. others," the prosecutor's office said.

In relation to the organizers of the concerts, the department initiated administrative cases under part 1 of article 6.17 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (violation of the established requirements for the dissemination of information products among children containing information that is harmful to their health and (or) development). Law enforcement agencies also identified "signs of an impending offense" in the actions of one of the organizers, he was issued a warning about the inadmissibility of violating the law.