Translated material
Briefly about unlawful anti-extremism from January to August 2019
Legislation : ECtHR practice : Criminal prosecutions : Other prosecutions
This brief overview focuses on the most important legislative innovations and law enforcement statistics in the field of counteraction extremism from January to August 2019. We will only touch on the part legislation and law enforcement practice, which leads, with our point of view, to excessive restriction of civil liberties.
Legislation
In July 2019 Russia ratified the Shanghai Convention Cooperation Organization (SCO) to counter extremism, which was signed in 2017 in Astana. The Convention extends what was previously adopted at the level SCO definition of extremism - if the 2001 Shanghai Convention defines extremism was tied to violence, now extremism is also understood as "other anti-constitutional actions" - and in addition, introduces a list "extremist acts", largely coinciding with the definition extremism, which is used in the Russian law "On countering extremist activities." Moreover, this list includes inciting political discord, which is absent in the Russian definition. The document provides for close cooperation between law enforcement agencies in within the framework of investigations of extremist cases, including travel for presence during operational activities on the territory of other participating states. In addition, the convention obliges to deny the status refugee to all those involved in extremist crimes. strengthening cooperation of this kind causes us concern, because it opens the prospect of further aggravation of the already difficult situation of dissidents in the SCO countries.
The number of norms is growing limiting the rights of people whom the authorities consider involved in terrorism and extremism. Among them are laws signed in March, one of which obliges lawyers and accountants to freeze the funds of clients from the so-called list extremists and terrorists of Rosfinmonitoring, and another prohibits the defendants of this list to work in nuclear installations. In July the law was signed prohibiting the persons involved in the list of Rosfinmonitoring to work as machinists on railways. And in August, the president approved a law on crowdinvesting, prohibiting persons mentioned in the same list from attracting investments and owning crowdfunding platforms. In addition, the government submitted to the State Duma bill expanding the ban on the establishment of non-profit organizations and membership in them for persons whose funds are frozen by the Interdepartmental Commission on countering the financing of terrorism. Recall that in the list of Rosfinmonitoring convicts, as well as those accused and suspected of involvement in extremist and terrorist activities.
At the end of June, the State Duma approved first reading one of the bills included in the group's package of proposals deputies headed by Elena Yampolskaya, together with proposal to amend Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (propaganda or public demonstration of Nazi symbols and symbols of extremist organizations). The bill aims to abolish the absolute nature of the ban on the demonstration Nazi symbols, which is contained in the Federal Law "On the perpetuation of the Victory Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, and also adjust the wording of the Federal Law "On countering extremist activity". Softening the total ban for the demonstration of Nazi symbols, it seems to us necessary, however, from our point of view, the "Yampolskaya package" will not allow take full account of the context of such a demonstration, as it suggests limit the prohibition by a list of situations in which there is no propaganda of Nazism, however, the list proposed by Yampolskaya is not exhaustive. From our point of view, legislation should include a proviso that the ban on displaying symbols of prohibited organizations and appropriate sanctions should be imposed only if it is the demonstration is aimed at promoting the corresponding ideology.
It should also be noted that the appearance new norms that are not directly related to the fight against extremism, but also significantly restricting freedom of expression for reasons state security. In March 2019, a package of laws was signed, who gained fame by the name of one of the initiators, Senator Alexander Klishas against fake news and insults to society, states and officials on the Internet.
First, Roskomnadzor was instructed to block, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, "inaccurate public significant information disseminated under the guise of credible reports, threatening citizens, public order, etc. For distributing "knowingly false" information was introduced administrative liability under Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (abuse of freedom of the media, new parts 9-11) in the form of large fines, differentiated depending on degree of alleged or real harm - up to 1.5 million rubles for legal persons. At the same time, registered online media were given the opportunity to quickly delete such messages upon notification of Roskomnadzor in order to avoid blocking.
Secondly, according to the "laws Klishas" out-of-court blocking is subject to "information expressing indecent form that offends human dignity and public morality", a clear disrespect for society, the state, state symbols, authorities. Site owners are obliged within 24 hours after upon notification to delete such information. Citizens are punished for spreading it administrative fines and arrests up to 15 days in accordance with new part 3 art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (petty hooliganism).
In our opinion, these laws operate with vague concepts, introduce redundant norms and assume unjustified interference with the right of Russian citizens to freedom of expression opinions, clearly aimed at suppressing criticism of the activities of the authorities.
At the time of this review we became aware of 44 cases of prosecution for the manifestation of online disrespect. 26 people were punished, in 25 cases it was a fine, in one was placed under administrative arrest; 14 cases were closed, the outcome of four unknown to us. Most often it was about obscene expressions addressed to President, but also to other authorities, including local officials, judges, law enforcement officials. Behind publication of inaccurate reports, to our knowledge, were involved in responsibility of two people. According to the Roskomnadzor report , in the first half 2019, 21 pages "with information about disrespect for the authorities"; at the same time, at the end of September, the head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov said that since the entry into force of the law, the department has received 36 requirements of the Prosecutor General's Office on violations in 62 materials with information about disrespect to power 58 of which were removed and four blocked. Obviously, such an increase in locks in the third semester is associated with targeted searches for information expressing disrespect for the state symbols of the Russian Federation. According to Roskomnadzor, in the first half a year, 61 pages with "inaccurate socially significant information."
IN In May, a package of bills on a ban on the distribution of information contributing to the imposition of sanctions against the Russian state, citizens and organizations. Its author is Deputy Mikhail Yemelyanov ("Fair Russia") proposed to ban the collection, transfer and dissemination of information, contributing to the imposition of sanctions against Russia and Russians, and information about bypassing sanctions by them. It is proposed to introduce criminal liability for the distribution in the media and the Internet, both secrets protected by law, and any other information that contributed to the imposition of sanctions; punishment is provided in the form of imprisonment for a term up to five years with a fine of up to five million rubles and a ban on certain activities - depending on the circumstances - up to five or up to 10 years. Except In addition, Emelyanov proposes to supplement Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code (slander) by the part punishing for defamation against sanctioned persons or which has become one of the grounds for imposition of sanctions, with punishment in the form of a fine of up to 5 million rubles or deprivation freedom for up to five years. From our point of view, Emelyanov's proposals, concerning the dissemination of information that does not constitute a legally protected secret or personal data, directly contrary to Art. 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, guaranteeing freedom of speech and the media. In addition, they provide for the possibility of criminal prosecution for acts committed without criminal intent. It is also not entirely clear how exactly establish the fact that the dissemination or transmission of information really contributed to the imposition of sanctions.
Practice of the ECtHR
During the period under review The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) continued to receive and communicate complaints of Russian citizens in connection with the application of anti-extremist norms. Was made at least two important decisions.
In July, the ECtHR considered the case "Zhdanov and Others v. Russia", which combined three complaints about refusals Russian authorities in registering organizations of LGBT communities ("Rainbow home", "Pride House in Sochi" and ANO "Movement for Marriage equality"). The Russian authorities tried to justify the refusals by the need protection of morality and family, national security (due to the hypothetical population decline), the rights and freedoms of others (from encountering manifestations same-sex relationships, the promotion of LGBT rights and the very idea of equality of different-sex and same-sex relationships), as well as preventing the arousal of social and religious hatred and enmity that can lead to manifestations of violence. So Thus, according to the authorities, the activities of LGBT organizations had signs of extremism. The ECtHR considered that the Russian the authorities had to provide conditions for the safe operation of LGBT organizations - for example, publicly and unequivocally denoting their tolerant position and having warned potential aggressors of responsibility, but instead decided remove the very cause of potential tension by restricting the applicants' right to to freedom of association. According to the European Court, the interference of Russian authorities in this right was not necessary in a democratic society. Consequently, the authorities violated Art. 11 of the Convention guaranteeing freedom of assembly and associations, and, since it was about the rights of LGBT people, Art. 14 of the Convention on prohibition of discrimination, and according to one of the complaints - also Art. 6 of the Law Convention to a fair trial.
The second decision relates to anti-extremist law enforcement only partly - since it concerns the anti-extremist "law" in origin Lugovoi" about blocking on the Internet. In April, the ECtHR ruled on complaints of Syktyvkar activist Grigory Kablis about the refusal to agree picket, as well as extrajudicial blocking of three posts on the website "7x7" and an account in the social network "VKontakte". Kablis in 2015 filed notice of the picket and published a blog post about it. After rejection city administration to agree on the picket, he published two more blog posts with the announcement of the national gathering, as well as one post on VKontakte. After his account on the social network was blocked at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, and then, under the threat of blocking, the portal "7x7" was forced to remove his blog posts.
According to the ECtHR, Art. 15.3 FZ "Information" is too broad, referring to a ban on the dissemination of information about events held in violation of law. As a result, it turns out that any, even the most insignificant, a procedural violation in this area may give rise to extrajudicial blocking posts, and the wide margin of discretion of the Prosecutor General's Office in relation to such blocking makes it almost impossible for them to be judicially reviewed. Thus, Art. 15.3 of the Federal Law "On Information" does not contain the necessary guarantees against abuse. The ECtHR recognized the blocking mechanism itself according to the so-called. law Lugovoy, fixed in this article of the law, does not comply with the Convention.
The ECtHR decided that the blocking account and posts of Kablis constituted the interference of the state body to its right to express opinions, an integral part of which is freedom to receive and impart information and ideas. The blocking in this case was directed solely on the application of the rules for holding public events, which, as considers the ECtHR in its practice should not be an end in itself. Possible legal the purpose of the blocking could have been to protect the rights of others, but Russian courts have not determined whether the actions of Kablis actually infringed on these rights. ECtHR noted that only two of his four posts contained calls for participation in planned public event. At the same time, it should be taken into account that in against law-breaking but peaceful assemblies, the authorities should demonstrate a certain level of tolerance. The reasons for blocking two other posts are not at all clear, and, in addition, they discussed issues of public interest, and such statements are subject to special protection. So a pressing social need there was no information in the lock in this case. The ECtHR concluded that Russia violated Art. 10, 11 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, protecting freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the right to effective remedy, and ordered her to compensate Kablis for non-pecuniary damage and legal costs.
Criminal prosecutions
In the first eight months of 2019 the only guilty verdict was handed down on the articles of interest to us on public statements, which we regard as unlawful. The Volgograd Regional Court in March fined 200 thousand rubles under Part 3 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (public desecration of symbols of military glory of Russia) of the coordinator Volgograd headquarters of Alexei Navalny Alexei Volkov. In 2017, after of how they splashed brilliant green at Navalny, published in the community of supporters in the oppositionist in the social network "VKontakte" a collage covered with brilliant green monument "Motherland is calling!". We consider the verdict to Volkov illegal. The creators and distributors of the collage obviously had no intention express disrespect for the monument and contribute to the rehabilitation of Nazism; except Moreover, it is not clear from a legal point of view whether the dissemination images by desecration of the monument itself, is not defined in the legislation and the concept of "symbols of military glory of Russia".
From January to August 2019 due to partial decriminalization Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, a number of criminal cases were terminated on this article, for the excitation of which, from our point of view, there was no grounds, or they were initiated partly unlawfully.
In January, cases were closed in against three residents of Barnaul, Andrey Shasherin and Maria Motuznaya, who were accused according to part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code (insulting the feelings of believers) and Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code (excitation hate) for publishing atheistic and xenophobic images, as well as Daniil Markin, who was accused of humiliating Christians under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code for publishing anti-Christian memes. In addition, the charge under Part 1 of Art. 282 UK was removed from the opposition activist from Cheboksary Alexei Mironov, who was charged with saying about the need to exterminate Muslims; V as a result, he was released from the colony, where he served a sentence on the amount of articles 282 and 280 on incitement to extremist activity (the accusation under Art. 280 we considered illegal). The persecution of Ufa resident Amin was stopped Shayakhmetov, who published six texts about Islam on the Shura Muslims of the Republic of Bashkortostan" (only in one of the four texts, with which we were able to see, a call for discrimination was found).
In February in Omsk it was closed the case of the radical feminist Lyubov Kalugina, accused of inciting hatred on the basis of gender due to publications about men in the social network, and in Sevastopol the court stopped criminal prosecution under Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Secretary of the Sevastopol branches of the party "Russian United Labor Front" (ROT FRONT) Valeria Bolshakova. The accusation concerned negative assessments of the Terek Cossacks, which the activist allowed in publications on the social network, and we believed that the Terek the Cossacks are not a vulnerable social group in need of protection in the form of anti-extremist articles of the Criminal Code. In June Bolshakov was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, suspended. 1 and 2 Art. 280 of the Criminal Code for calling for the overthrow of " Putin's "regime" " and establishment of the " dictatorship of the proletariat ", but already in August the case was returned to the prosecutor's office for additional investigation, elimination of formal shortcomings and concretization of the accusation ".
IN May "pokemon catcher" Ruslan Sokolovsky was released from punishment, convicted under Part 1 of Art. 282 of the Criminal Code, part 1 of Art. 148 of the Criminal Code and art. 138.1 of the Criminal Code (illegal circulation of special technical means, intended for secret obtaining of information), in addition, a criminal record was taken from the nationalist Vladimir Timoshenko, who was convicted of inciting hatred towards the social group "employees of institutions and institutions of the state authorities".
At In this regard, we noted only six cases of unjustified persecution under the new Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on inciting hatred. In three cases fines were imposed, in one - an administrative arrest was appointed, in another case the proceedings were terminated. Recall that under this article, as a result of the partial decriminalization of Art. 282 UK bring to justice those who committed one such act during the year.
Unfortunately, in the the period of 2019, the authorities continued to open criminal cases for opposition statements without proper reason.
IN February in Pskov, the story of Svetlana's radio broadcast was continued Prokopieva, released in the fall of 2018: the program was devoted to the causes of the explosion in the reception room of the FSB in Arkhangelsk, and Roskomnadzor saw signs of justifications for terrorism. For the publication of the recording of the radio broadcast and its transcript justices of the peace fined the publishers of "Echo of Moscow in Pskov" and "Pskov news feed" for 150 and 200 thousand rubles respectively for hours. 6 Article. 13.15 Administrative Code (production or output media containing public calls for the implementation terrorist activities, materials publicly justifying terrorism), and Prokopyeva herself became a suspect (and in September 2019, an accused) for Part 2 Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public justification of terrorism in the media). In our opinion, the persecution of the journalist and the media is unlawful, since the program did not contain claims that the ideology or practice of terrorism is correct and worthy of emulation, as well as their attractiveness or acceptability.
In March, he was arrested in Ufa activist of the Bashkir national movement Airat Dilmukhametov. He is accused under three articles of the Criminal Code. We consider unjustified the accusation against him of publications on the Internet of calls to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation 2 tbsp. 280.1 of the Criminal Code) for a video message in which he announced his intention to win the elections of the head of Bashkortostan, and then initiate the renewal of the federal agreements between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on new terms, since it was not about forcible separation of any regions from Russia. From our point of view unfounded and the accusation brought against him on Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code, because, according to our knowledge, it is related to the video Dilmukhametov about the religious party "Hizb" banned in Russia ut-Tahrir", in which he not only did not justify and did not propagate 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. Assess the legitimacy of the allegations against Dilmukhametov under Art. 280 of the Criminal Code, we cannot, because we do not know on what statements they are based on.
IN In April, it became known that a new criminal case had been opened under Part 1 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (rehabilitation of Nazism) against a Chuvash opposition blogger Konstantin Ishutov. The reason for his persecution was two posts, in which we found no signs of justifying Nazism.
IN the same month in Novy Urengoy (YaNAO) a criminal case was initiated under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code on the justification of terrorism on the Internet in relation to the creator and main editor of the portal "Voice of Islam" Dmitry Chernomorchenko. occasion served as the publication on December 13, 2016 on the website "Voice of Islam" article "Aleppo fell: lessons and conclusions". Grounds for initiating a case was the conclusion of one of the experts, who found signs of justifying the activity banned "Islamic State" in the words of the author that it makes no sense to blame this organization for the fall of Aleppo, since during the fighting actions, the ISIS actually supported with Assad "an unspoken truce". From our point of view, such an interpretation is difficult to consider justified, especially since in the article the author criticizes all sides of the conflict, in including ISIS, and does not call for violence, let alone terrorism.
In June it became known that Oksana Eremina and Yuri Vashurin, who participated in the opposition action in 2018 "He is not our tsar" in Chelyabinsk, charged under Part 2 of Art. 213 Criminal Code (hooliganism committed motivated by political hatred by an organized group). The investigation considers Mikhail Takhirov and I. Tyshchenko to be Eremina's accomplices. IN against Boris Zolotarevsky, the case was dismissed: the investigation considered that, although Zolotarevsky was the organizer of the action, he was detained before it began and therefore not involved in the crime. In our opinion, neither chanting slogans with calls for a non-violent change of persons in the leading positions of the state and region, nor the filling of a square or an intersection with participants in a mass event, that are imputed to activists should not in themselves qualify as hooliganism.
If for statements of an oppositional orientation, only one sentence under a criminal article, then for involvement in banned organizations 14 wrongful sentences were handed down against 62 people.
Of these, six sentences under Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of a terrorist organization or participation in such) related to participation in the Islamic religious party "Hizb ut-Tahrir", which is banned in Russia as a terrorist, although information there is no evidence of her involvement in terrorist activities. For long periods imprisonment - from seven to 17 years in prison - 38 people were sentenced in Moscow, Bashkortostan, Samara, Tatarstan and Crimea.
The remaining eight sentences against 24 people were taken out for involvement in extremist organizations.
Two sentences under Art. 282.2 CC (organization of activities of an extremist organization or participation in such) concerned followers of the peaceful movement of Islamic preachers "Tablighi Jamaat", which is recognized as extremist in Russia. In Orenburg and Crimea 14 people received terms from conditional to six and a half years of real deprivation freedom. (And already outside the period under review, in September 2019, in Tatarstan three supporters of the movement received two to six years in prison.)
A verdict was passed in Tatarstan members of the Faizrakhmanist Muslim community: five people were convicted under Art. 282.2 and Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code (financing the activities of an extremist organization) and received five to seven years in prison. Community led a secluded but not aggressive lifestyle, so we believe that grounds for recognizing it as extremist and persecuting its members for there were no related articles.
In addition, in the first eight months of 2019 according to art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code, four Jehovah's Witnesses were convicted - two in Orel and one each in Perm and Khabarovsk. Two people were sentenced to fines, another to forced labor; became the most severe sentence for Dennis Christensen, a Danish citizen who received six years in Orel general regime colonies. (We also note that already outside the period under consideration, in September, six believers were sentenced to terms of two to three and a half years in prison in Saratov.)
Based on Witnesses Jehovah in mid-August, we can say that by autumn the number of their fellow believers, subjected to criminal prosecution in Russia for continuing their activities and financing of their banned organizations (articles 282.2 and 282.3 of the Criminal Code) after the total ban in 2017, exceeded 250 people, about three and a half dozen of whom were in jail.
Separately, we consider it important to note an increase in the number of cases of criminal prosecution under Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code for propaganda terrorism in places of detention. In places of deprivation of liberty, and not only in Russia, some prisoners learn and sometimes begin to propagate ideas that have directly related to terrorist activities, and those prisoners who who were convicted of common crimes. In the same time, the legitimacy of such accusations is often in doubt, both because of the possible fabrication of evidence against prisoners, and because it is not clear whether in these cases the degree of public danger is properly taken into account deeds, since it is usually not indicated how many people made up the audience, familiarized with the statement, and, accordingly, it is not clear whether it is possible to consider the statement is really public. We know of at least three sentences 2019 (convicts received from 2.5 to 3.5 years in prison) and five new criminal cases filed this year under Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code in relation to prisoners.
Other persecution
Our article application statistics of the Code of Administrative Offenses aimed at combating extremism, is so incomplete that it diverges from the real one by an order of magnitude, but partly it allows to judge the general tendencies.
During the period under review The largest number of abuses occurred in the application of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses propaganda and demonstration of prohibited symbols (most often Nazi). We consider it unlawful to prosecute for displaying symbols that are not aimed at promoting extremist ideology, and in such cases we recorded 16. In half of them, they were brought to justice opposition activists. Sanctions were imposed on 14 people - mostly speech was about fines, but in one case an administrative arrest was ordered.
We know about 47 cases of involvement liable under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on the mass distribution of extremist materials that, in our opinion, have been illegally banned bases, or their storage for the purpose of distribution. In 39 cases, a fine was imposed, in another an arrest has been made. In most cases, it was about the spread of non-religious literature, as we noted earlier, but materials critical of the Russian authorities.
We know at least 6 cases of prosecution under Art. 16.2 and 16.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for importation into Russia, wrongfully recognized as extremist, all of them relate to religious literature.
The growth rate of the Federal list of extremist materials continue to decline: if for the corresponding period in 2018, the list was replenished by 158 items, then in 2019 it grew by 138 points (from 4812 to 4949). Moreover, if from January to the end of August 2018 the share of unlawful prohibitions in it amounted to about 35 points, then in 2019 - only five.
Continued to replenish the United register of prohibited sites, where online resources, recognized as extremist by court order. According to the Roskomnadzor report , on the basis of court decisions, 67 153 links to Internet resources containing information recognized by the court banned or extremist, including 27,701 web mirrors. Which one a percentage of this number of blocks falls on pages with extremist materials, the department does not report. Ros and the register of information blocked outside court at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office for incitement to extremist activities or unauthorized public actions, disrespect for society and state, publishing fake messages that could lead to dangerous consequences, as well as for information from organizations recognized in Russia unwanted. In the first half of 2019, the department received 60 requirements of the Prosecutor General's Office to restrict access to illegal information on 243 Internet resources. By blocking web mirrors that host prohibited information that previously appeared in the requirements of the prosecutor's office is dealt with by Roskomnadzor, and in the first half of 2019 it identified 38,428 such pages, 38,370 of them had to sites with calls for extremist actions. Note that more 10,000 of them contained Hizb ut-Tahrir information, which is being blocked whether it is party propaganda or reports of persecution of its members. According to Roskomnadzor, from 27,092 websites prohibited information was removed, the rest were blocked.