In Arkhangelsk, a protocol was drawn up on the dissemination of unreliable socially significant information

This is the first known instance of the application of the law on fake messages.

April 26, 2019 in relation to an activist from Arkhangelsk, Elena Kalinina, a protocol was drawn up under Part 10 of Art. 13.15 Administrative Code on abuse of freedom of the media. This is the first known to us case of application of the new law , prohibiting the dissemination of inaccurate publicly significant information under the guise of reliable messages, approved in March 2019.

occasion served as Kalinina's message on her page on VKontakte about the planned holding an anti-garbage procession along Troitsky Prospekt in Arkhangelsk on April 7, 2019. Police considered that since Kalinina reported on the events on April 7, knowing that they not agreed with the local authorities, "which means they cannot be carried out according to declared route and address", she disseminated deliberately false information public value under the guise of a reliable message. The fact that the claimed the uncoordinated action nevertheless took place, the authors of the protocol were not embarrassed. A because they "caused a mass disturbance of the peace", during the events, traffic was blocked on the carriageway of the avenue, and also "interference was created for the functioning of the transport infrastructure", Kalinina's actions were qualified under Part 10 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (distribution in the media and the Internet of knowingly unreliable publicly significant information under the guise of reliable messages, resulting in interference with the functioning of life support facilities, transport or social infrastructure, credit institutions, energy facilities, industry or communications).

In our opinion, in this case, the police are taking an attempt to apply, instead of the rules governing the procedure for holding public actions, norm on fake messages, despite the fact that Kalinina's message was quite reliable, guided, obviously, by the difference in the amount of fines, provided for in the relevant parts of Art. 20.2 and part 10 of Art. 13.15 Administrative Code. Note also that we consider the law on fake news to be excessive and insufficient. a clearly formulated norm that grossly interferes with the right to freedom of speech; the application of this law, in our opinion, can lead to a large number of abuses.

At the end of May, it became known that on May 7, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Arkhangelsk returned the protocol drawn up in relation to Kalinina to the police to eliminate shortcomings. The judge noted that the protocol does not indicate which words she published are unreliable, what their unreliability consists of, and by what characteristics it was determined that the posted information was given the appearance of reliable information. At the same time, it is indicated in the definition, in itself, a violation of the procedure for holding mass events or a call for such a violation does not form the objective side of the offense under Part 10 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, if there are no specified elements of an infringement on the freedom of the mass media.

Sources

• Yaroslav Varenik. In Arkhangelsk, for the first time, the organizer of an anti-garbage rally will be judged under the new “fake law” // 29.RU - Arkhangelsk online. April 26, 2019
• Yaroslav Varenik. Due to errors in the protocol, the court refused to consider the case of the Arkhangelsk city under the law "on fake news" // 29.RU - Arkhangelsk online. May 23, 2019
• Case card No. 5-243/2019 // Website of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Arkhangelsk. May 17, 2019