Unlawful anti-extremism in April 2019

We we publish an overview of the main and most significant events in the field of misuse of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in April 2019.

Rulemaking

At the beginning of the month, the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (Rosfinmonitoring) has published a draft law proposed by it , according to which government agencies are endowed with emergency extrajudicial suspension powers for up to ten working days of banking transactions that they believe may be relevant to financing terrorist or extremist activities, preparing and holding public events in violation of the established procedure, as well as to drug trafficking. The suspension of operations is proposed to be carried out "in cases of urgency, and when availability of sufficient pre-validated and documented information" of the appropriate kind. Depending on the reason for the decision to suspension of financial transactions, it is accepted by the heads of the FSB or the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the federal or territorial level or their deputies and notify of the decision to the Prosecutor General's Office, which can appeal their decision, and to Rosfinmonitoring. After ten days, the suspension of operations is extended by a court decision for based on the application of the relevant law enforcement agency "until such decision is reversed in accordance with legislation". At the same time, "in order to ensure the vital activity of an individual", whose financial transactions have been suspended, and members of his family who do not have independent sources of income, the court may award that person an allowance, not exceeding the subsistence level, at the expense of its own blocked cash funds.

Proposed by Rosfinmonitoring the draft law raises our concerns about possible abuses, the likelihood of which is very high when using extrajudicial mechanisms, therefore we believe extrajudicial freezing of funds is unacceptable. Law enforcement agencies will receive another tool of preventive suppression objectionable public activity, and the proposed measures will affect not only the participants in such activity, but also their families. Moreover, given the blurry wording of the bill, it can be expected that after ten days during the period of extrajudicial blocking, banking operations will be suspended by the court already for an unlimited period, and the basis for making appropriate decisions courts will serve not only criminal sentences on anti-terrorist and anti-extremist articles, entailing the arrest and confiscation of the means of committing crimes, and not even only the fact of criminal prosecution (as it is happening now with the defendants in the list of "terrorists and extremists" Rosfinmonitoring), but also bringing to responsibility for administrative articles or intelligence collected by law enforcement agencies. TO For example, it is easy to assume that the accounts of activists who are suspected of organization of uncoordinated rallies will be blocked simply on the basis of these suspicions.

The pursuit for inciting hatred and opposition speeches

At the beginning of April it became known that a new criminal case was initiated under Part 1 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (rehabilitation of Nazism) in against the Chuvash opposition blogger Konstantin Ishutov. Reason for new persecution was the publication of Ishutov in LiveJournal "information material and comments to it containing the justification of the actions of the Nazis during the Second world war, glorifying the actions of the Nazis and belittling the significance of the Victory Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. "In the post, made in June 2010, Ishutov wrote that the Chuvash authorities do not recognize that the fact that thousands of captured Germans are buried in the region, who worked at a peat enterprise in the Volga region, and do not allocate funds for the care behind the brotherly grave. The blogger noted that in Germany, on the contrary, it is customary take care of mass graves, memorials and monuments. Not in this text in the discussion that unfolded under the post, Ishutov, in our opinion, did not allow themselves statements justifying the actions of the Nazis. Persecution for text We consider the post and comments to it unfounded. This case was merged into one proceeding with the previous one brought against him under the same article in October 2018 for a post with a Nazi leaflet and the caption: "When the Third Reich refers to the Soviet people better than Putin to the Russian. "From our point of view, this the episode also did not give rise to criminal prosecution, since in Ishutov's intentions, apparently, did not include the justification of crimes Third Reich, and criticism of the policy of the Russian president.

In April we became known about five cases of prosecution under Art. 20.29 Administrative Code for dissemination of materials allegedly inciting hatred or opposition materials that, in our opinion, have been banned without proper reason. Sergei Sitkov, a resident of Ivanovo, was fined for posting in 2012 himself on the page on VKontakte, banned in 2017, the video for the song "Xu Zhitul" by the group "Vietnam" Recitatiff". Apparently, the publication of the same clip was the reason to apply the same sanctions to another resident of the Ivanovo region by several days later. Activist of the Chelyabinsk environmental movement "Stop GOK", known in the social network under the pseudonym Pavel Kamchatny, was fined for publication of the forbidden satirical poem "Last wish to Ivanam". In addition, the responsibility two residents of Ryazan were unlawfully attracted: I. Vlasov - for keeping in "VKontakte" in the section "My videos" the film "Attempt on Russia" based on the book of Alexander Litvinenko and Yuri Felshtinsky, who was declared extremist in 2017; V. Khomutsky kept a satirical song in the "Audio Recordings" section "Kill astronauts" of the group "Ensemble of Christ the Savior and Mother damp earth", which was also banned in 2017.

Two residents of Omsk were groundlessly, in our opinion, were fined in April under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for demonstration of Nazi symbols, not aimed at promoting Nazism. Designer Ilya Frishman was punished for posting on his website back in 2010. page in "VKontakte" an excerpt from the program of the First Channel "Big difference", which was a parody of the film "Seventeen Moments spring". On the sleeves of the costumes of the actors who played Muller, Stirlitz and Hitler, the swastika was visible. Frishman said in court that he did not intend to propagate the Nazi ideology that he is a Jew by nationality and an Israeli citizen, and his ancestors died at the hands of the Nazis, but the court did not heed his arguments. Claims against the engineer of the Central Design Bureau of Automation Yakov Alekseev were caused by two publications of 2017 in VKontakte. One of them was a map of Middle-earth (the artistic space of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien), which depicted the USSR and the Nazis as belligerents Germany; the image contained the flag of the Third Reich. Another post contained frame from a feature film in which Hitler and Eva Braun climb a staircase with a flag with a swastika hanging over it. Posts were not followed any pro-Nazi remarks. Recall that we believe that The legislation should be changed in such a way that Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses persecution for displaying symbols of prohibited organizations, associated with the promotion of relevant ideas.

At the end of April, the Roskomnadzor department for Privolzhsky Federal District drew up two protocols on administrative offense under h. 2 Article. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (dissemination of information about extremist organization without indicating that its activities are prohibited) in relation to the Nizhny Novgorod online publication KozaPress and its editor-in-chief Irina Murakhtaeva. occasion served as a reproduction of photographs from the website of the Investigative Committee of the ICR in the Nizhny Novgorod region, in including photos with the flag of the banned organization Misanthropic Division, given in one of the news without mentioning this organization and its ban. We recall that according to Art. 57 of the Law "On the Mass Media", the editorial office is exempted from responsible for the abuse of freedom of the media, if published information is contained in the materials of the press services of state organs.

In April, they were first applied the “Klishas Laws” signed in March to ban distribution on the Internet information expressing disrespect for society and the state, and on the dissemination false information under the guise of reliable messages.

Based on the request of the Prosecutor General's Office On April 11, the portal "76.ru" was blocked. From the news "In Yaroslavl on the police building painted a giant graffiti with a mockery: what threatens hooligans" the editors removed the photo with a rude inscription about Putin on the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Yaroslavl region, after which the site was unblocked. On On the same grounds, the Yarkub website was blocked. The blocking was removed after the editors removed photos of the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from the site, already partially retouched, as well as already censored references to this inscription in the texts news. From our point of view, the norm on insulting the state is unjustified and excessive restriction of criticism of the activities of the authorities.

At the end of the month in against an activist from Arkhangelsk, Elena Kalinina, a protocol was drawn up on Part 10 Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on the abuse of freedom of the mass media. occasion served as Kalinina's message on her page on VKontakte about the planned anti-garbage procession in Arkhangelsk on April 7, 2019 of the year. The police considered that since Kalinina reported on the events on April 7, knowing that they are not coordinated with local authorities, "and therefore cannot be carried out along the declared route and address," she deliberately circulated unreliable information of public importance under the guise of reliable messages. The fact that the declared uncoordinated action nevertheless took place, The authors of the protocol were not embarrassed. And since they "caused a massive violation of public order", during the events was blocked traffic on the carriageway of the avenue, Kalinina's actions were qualified according to part 10 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses as causing interference with the functioning transport infrastructure. In our opinion, in this case the police took an attempt to apply, instead of the rules governing the procedure for holding public actions, fake news rule, which provides for a larger fine, while that Kalinina's message was quite reliable.

The pursuit religious organizations and believers

At the end of April, the Volga District Military Court delivered a verdict on accused of being a member of the Islamic religious party Hizb ut-Tahrir", recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia, five residents of Almetievsk (Republic of Tatarstan). Anas Gimazetdinov was sentenced to 18 years in a strict regime colony with restriction of freedom for 1 year under Part 1 Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of a terrorist organization), Irek Mukhametov - also to 18 years in a strict regime colony, with restriction of freedom for 1 year under Part 1 of Art. 205.5 and part 1 of Art. 205.1 PC (recruitment, inducement to participate or other involvement of a person in terrorist activities), Azat Zagiyev - by 13 years strict regime colonies under Part 2 of Art. 205.5 (participation in activities terrorist organization) and Part 1 of Art. 205.1 of the Criminal Code, Rinat Khannanov and Emil Shangareev - also to 13 years in a strict regime colony under Part 2 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code. All five were arrested in October 2017. They were blamed holding meetings with reading and discussion of party literature and involvement in ranks of Hizb ut-Tahrir new supporters. We consider it illegal accusation of Hizb ut-Tahrir followers of terrorism only on basis of party activity.

In the middle of the month against the Bashkir nationalist Airat Dilmukhametov, a new criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public justification of terrorism, committed on the Internet) and Part 1 of Art. 280 of the Criminal Code (public calls for extremist activities). According to available information, Art. 205.2 CC investigation considers that on November 6, 2018 Dilmukhametov published on YouTube a video recording of the persecution of Hizb ut-Tahrir members. He named unfair severe punishments, which are assigned to them under Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code, but at the same time he warned the youth against joining the party, criticizing it ideology, that is, not only did not justify and did not promote terrorist activities, but generally did not express agreement with the ideology Hizb ut-Tahrir, but only stated that this organization does not resort to terrorist methods of struggle. As regards the suspicion under Art. 280 of the Criminal Code, then we cannot assess its legitimacy, because we are not familiar with the content statements: it is only known that it was a kind of public remark addressed to Chechens. The accusation previously brought against Dilmukhametov under Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code, we we consider unlawful.

Note also that in April we learned about two sentences (in Mordovia and the Tver region) and one new case (in the Vladimir region) under Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code for propaganda of Islamic terrorism in places of detention. The degree of legitimacy of such prosecution causes us doubts due to the fact that it is not clear whether private conversations with inmates or fellow campers as public propaganda, what was actually the audience for each of these conversations.

In the beginning of April Vyborg City Court fined under Art. 20.29 Administrative Code of Magomed Kadyrov, allowed storage in the prayer room in Vyborg "Fortress Muslim" - a popular collection of prayers recognized as extremist in every day. Kadyrov said that he spends Friday prayers in a prayer room a room in which there is a cabinet with religious literature for visitors. "Muslim Fortress" stood in the closet for about a year, however, as stated Kadyrov is in court, he did not know about her ban. From our point of view, the ban "Fortresses of a Muslim" is illegal, since this collection of prayers does not contain any aggressive appeals. Accordingly, we are unlawful We also consider the persecution of Kadyrov.

On the same days in Novy Urengoy, the imam of the Ikhsan religious organization was found guilty under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and fined for storage in a mosque the forbidden pamphlet "380 Major Sins" by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami. From our point of view, the grounds for banning this book, which reflects religious attitudes of the author of the 16th century, was not, and therefore the fine on the imam was imposed unlawfully. After the court session, the Mufti of the Spiritual Administration Muslims of Yamal Khaidar Khafizov signed a decree "on the weekly revision of literature for the presence of extremist materials with the preparation of acts checks in all the mosques of the YNAO", stating that "the easiest way to resolve the issue is in such a way that in mosques, in addition to the Koran there was no other literature."

At the beginning of the month Belorechensky the inter-district court in ZATO Mezhgorye of the Republic of Bashkortostan decided to recognize book "Shura in Bashkorstan" by Ishmurat with extremist material Khaibullina on the basis of psychological and linguistic expertise, according to the conclusions which it contains information aimed at inciting religious hatred and enmity towards non-Muslims and "untrue Muslims". Khaibullin, teacher of Arabic and Muslim public and religious figure, declaring views characteristic of moderate Salafism, headed the organization "Shura of Muslims of the Republic Bashkortostan", which announced its self-dissolution in August 2017. Although we are not sure of the legitimacy of the goals pursued by the "Shura of Muslims RB" in its activities, we believe that there are sufficient grounds for the court did not have a ban on the book "Shura in Bashkortostan": in itself it does not contain any illegal appeals, nor statements that go beyond permissible criticism and inciting hatred.

April 1 Zheleznodorozhny District Court Orel delivered a verdict in the case of a follower of Jehovah's Witnesses Sergei Skrynnikov, accused of participating in the activities of an extremist organization (part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code) for the continuation of the activities of the local community of Jehovah's Witnesses, which was designated as an extremist organization in 2016. The court found him guilty and sentenced to a fine of 350 thousand rubles. Recall that in February guilty Dane Dennis Christensen was recognized as the organizer of the activities of this community, he received six years in prison.

In addition, in April A number of other criminal cases were initiated against Jehovah's Witnesses in various regions of Russia.

• according to part 1 of Art. 282.2 (organization activities of an extremist organization) against two residents of Porkhov Pskov region, they took a written undertaking not to leave
• according to part 1 of Art. 282.3 (financing of extremist activities) in respect of two residents Birobidzhan
• according to part 1 of Art. 282.2 in against two residents of Abakan (Republic of Khakassia)
• according to part 1 of Art. 282.2 in Krasnoyarsk Territory: a resident of Sharypov was arrested, a resident of Minusinsk was taken House arrest
• by hh. 1 and 2 Art. 282.2 in regarding three people in Novosibirsk: two men were sent to home arrest, a written undertaking not to leave the place was taken from the woman
• according to part 1 of Art. 282.2 in Partizansk (Primorye): woman sent to pre-trial detention center, man placed under house arrest In addition, at the beginning April IC for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug announced refusal to open a criminal case on the application of Jehovah's Witnesses from Surgut about the use of torture against them, when, after mass searches on February 15, the detained believers were taken to the building of the SU TFR in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. According to the results of the audit, the UK did not see the composition crimes in the actions of their employees. The Commissioner for Human Rights in Yugra sent to KhMAO prosecutor's office with a request to verify the legality of the refusal to initiate affairs. She recalled the opinion of independent experts, who confirmed that the believers are injured, which may indicate the use of torture against them.

Recall that the decision to recognize the Management center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and 395 local extremist organizations was accepted by the Supreme Court of Russia in April 2017, challenge he failed. We believe that this decision, which served as the basis for initiating criminal cases against believers for continuing religious practice as continued activities of extremist organizations had no legal grounds, and regard the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses as a manifestation of religious discrimination.