"Dadine article." Four years later

The civil activist Vyacheslav Egorov, who opposes the garbage dump in Kolomna, was initiated under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code (repeated violations of public events). From the moment the previous case, three and a half years have passed under this article. We remind you what this article is and how it is used.

The proposal to include Article 212.1 in the Criminal Code was submitted to the Duma on March 31, 2014 in the package of amendments tightening punishment for violations at public events. Shortly before this, several large shares were held in Moscow, in which the police detained a total of more than 1,200 people. In addition, the memory of the Kiev Maidan was fresh, and representatives of the Russian authorities clearly made it clear that they would not allow the repetition of the “Ukrainian script”.

The bill entered into force in July 2014. And in January 2015, it became known about the first criminal cases under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code. The accusations were brought by permanent participants in the protests in Moscow - Vladimir Ionov , Mark Galperin and Ildar Dadin . Almost exactly four years have passed since the initiation of the criminal case of Ildar Dadin: on January 30, 2015 he was taken to the investigator from the court session, where the administrative case of the action on December 5, 2014 was considered - this event formed the basis of the criminal case.

In addition to these three, the accusation of the “rally” article was brought by their associate Irina Kalmykova , the case against her was opened in June 2015. Until now, according to the ATS-Info, criminal cases under this article have not been instituted.

In order to impose “repeated violations” to a person, by the time he commits another “violation”, he already has at least three court decisions under Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on promotions that have entered into force for six months. Thus, three quarters of the criminal case may draw up episodes for which a person has already been punished - a fine, administrative arrest or obligatory work. This gave the basis for human rights activists and lawyers to argue that Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code violates the Constitution : it not only limits the right to peaceful meetings and freedom of expression of opinion (like other legislative restrictions in this area), but also deprives a person not to be repeatedly convicted of the same act.

The cases of Ionov, Dadina and Kalmykova reached the court, but only Dadin’s case ended with a sentence - in connection with this, article 212.1 of the Criminal Code is often called “Dadinskaya”. Ionovna waited for his own sentence and left Russia, and Kalmykov also acted. In December 2015, Ildar Dadin was sentenced to three years in a general regime colony, in March 2016 the term was reduced by six months. The case of Mark Galperin was discontinued at the investigation due to an absurd mistake-during the investigation it turned out that one of several “violations” that came into business occurred later than that which became the reason for initiating the case.

In November 2016, Dadin was able to transfer information to the will that he was subjected to torture in the colony . His letter and, as a result, his case acquired a wide resonance. On February 22, 2017, the Supreme Court decided to cancel the sentence to Dadin and release it. About two weeks before, the Constitutional Court, having examined the complaint of Dadin about Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code, said that it corresponds to the basic law, but it should be applied only if the “violation” imputed to the person was a danger to society. At the same time, as the lawyer Alexei Lipzer, who represented the interests of Dadin, according to the clarification of the Constitutional Court, explained the danger to the company, the danger to society should be each of the four “violations” that have fallen into business.

Since then, Dadinskaya article has been used by representatives of the authorities exclusively as an instrument of intimidation of activists. The cases of Ionov and Kalmykova were returned to the prosecutor's office. In December 2016, the Center for Combating Extremism demanded from the Tver District Court of Moscow the materials of the administrative case of activist Igor Klochkov to initiate the case under Article 212.1. But the judge refused, since court decisions on administrative offenses Klochkov did not enter into force. With the same article, the employees of the Investigative Committee threatened the activist of Artiloving Vyacheslav Rybakov from Cheboksary. But not one of his offenses was dangerous for society. In 2018, investigators repeatedly checked on the same subject of the coordinator of the headquarters of Alexei Navalny in Murmansk Violetta Grudin, but they did not initiate a matter.

The fears associated with the return of Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code to the turnover began to sound in the company when a protocol on a rarely used 4th part of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses was drawn up on Alexei Navalny in September 2018-on a violation of the organizer of the action, which resulted in damage to health or property (the policy was arrested in this case for 20 days). A formal reason for such an accusation was announcements of shares against pension reform due to the fact that the police officers were applied to the Moscow campaign and damaged the police car.

A formal reason for the initiation of a criminal case against Vyacheslav Egorov was the detention on December 13, 2018 at the building of the Kolomensky city court, where the administrative case of politician Dmitry Gudkov was to be considered. Egorova in words was accused of organizing a rally near the court - the same wording, according to the lawyer Maria Aismont, representing the interests of the activist, is now present in the criminal case. It was drawn up for the 2nd part of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses-the organization of the event without approval. The materials of this administrative case were transferred to the Main Investigative Department of the IC in the Moscow Region, which opened a criminal case on January 25. Three previous "violations":

• the detention in May 2018, when Yegorov, along with other activists, tried to prevent the passage of cars to the local garbage training ground “Volovichi” (“Standard” 5th part of Article 20.2, violation of the procedure for the event by the participant; on May 11, the court appointed him 30 hours of compulsory work, the decision entered into force on June 26);
• The detention on April 19, when the activists went on a pedestrian crossing near the training ground, so as not to miss the garbage trucks (violation by the participant who interfered with interference with infrastructure or transport (part 6.1 of Article 20.2); on June 8, the court arrested Egorov for three days, the decision entered into force on July 17);
• The post in the group “There is no landfill of Kolomna” on VKontakte: the court regarded this text as the organization of the inconsistent rally (which was not) and on August 22 appointed him 25 hours of compulsory work (2nd part of Article 20.2; the decision entered into force on October 23).

Thus, as lawyer Maria Aismont notes, none of the violations imputed to him is a threat to society. In addition, as lawyer Alexei Lipzer explained by the OVD-Info, when investigating the case, the investigation and the court will be obliged to re-analyze all administrative offenses for which court decisions have already been made.