Unlawful anti-extremism in August 2021

We we publish an overview of the main and most significant events in the field of illegal application of anti-extremist legislation in Russia in August 2021.

persecution for criticism of the government and opposition activities

August 4, 2021 in Moscow First the Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction upheld the decision of the Moscow City Court, which on June 9, 2021 satisfied administrative claim of the Moscow prosecutor and recognized the "Fund for the Struggle against corruption" (FBK), "Foundation for the Protection of Citizens' Rights" (FZPG) and "Navalny's Headquarters" by extremist organizations. Formerly FBK and FZPG were also recognized as organizations "performing the functions of a foreign agent". On August 6, all three organizations were included in the federal list extremist organizations on the website of the Ministry of Justice. Recall we believe that legitimate there were no grounds for banning Navalny's organizations as extremist. You can read more about our position here .

On August 10, the Investigative Committee reported on initiation of a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 282.3 of the Criminal Code (fundraising, knowingly designed to support the activities of an extremist organization) in regarding Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov. According to the SC, the reason for initiating the case was a video in which the former head "Headquarters of Navalny" Volkov and the former director of the "Fund for Combating corruption" (FBK) Zhdanov called on "an unlimited circle of people support the Navalny Team and finance them through donations at the link they provided." Probably, it was a video "We're Going On and We Need Your Help", published August 5 on YouTube channel of Alexei Navalny.

August 11 Investigative The Russian Committee reported that Alexei Navalny was charged under Part 2 Art. 239 of the Criminal Code (creation of a non-profit organization whose activities are associated with the inducement of citizens to refuse to perform civic duties or to commission of other illegal acts, as well as the management of such an organization). On August 12, it became known that the same charges were brought against his associates. Ivan Zhdanov and Leonid Volkov. Recall that the relevant criminal case was launched February 4th. According to investigators, the activities of Navalny created FBK, which he led together with Zhdanov and Volkov, was associated with inciting citizens to commit illegal acts. In particular, Navalny, Zhdanov, Volkov and other persons organized distribution on their personal pages and on the pages of FBK on the Internet of publications containing calls for the participation of citizens Russian Federation in uncoordinated rallies in January 2021, while what about the illegal nature of these events and the administrative responsibility for their participants was "certainly known in advance."

August 17 Armavir The city court of the Krasnodar Territory fined two and a half thousand rubles according to part 2 of Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (manufacture or sale for the purpose of propaganda or acquisition for the purpose of sale or promotion of paraphernalia or symbols extremist organization) of a local resident Sergei Solomakhin, who 11 August "allowed the purchase for marketing purposes" of leaflets containing information about "Smart Voting", which, as the court noted, is a project of the Anti-Corruption Foundation recognized as extremist. The court refers to expert opinion, according to which the "Smart Voting" leaflet has all the signs of extremist printed products, is presented the structure of a banned public organization calling for violations electoral legislation". In accordance with the federal law on countering extremist activities materials are recognized extremist in court order, and then are included in the Federal List extremist materials, after which their mass distribution is followed by sanctions under Art. 20.29 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. However, Solomakhin was prosecuted for another article - on the acquisition for the purpose of sale or propaganda of extremist paraphernalia or symbols. At the same time, the decision of the court did not say anything actually about any attributes or symbols.

Note also that 6 August, the Moscow Arbitration Court denied the American Google LLC in a lawsuit against Roskomnadzor on the recognition of illegal actions of the department on extrajudicial restriction of access to a number of materials on YouTube. Speech in a lawsuit filed in April, it was about 12 links to videos with calls to participate in unapproved rallies in January 2021. Google claimed that Roskomnadzor had no legal grounds to block links to YouTube because the requirement Deputy Prosecutor General, which entered the department, these references are not at all was: it featured similar material posted on TikTok. The court ruled that all actions of Roskomnadzor were committed within the framework of its legislative powers, since the department can take "measures preventive and suppressive character", and also due to the fact that in At the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, it was mentioned that the information must be blocked on "other Internet resources". From our point of view, the current legislation in Russia in the field of restriction of distribution information on the Internet has systemic shortcomings, its use is often unreasonably and disproportionately restrict freedom of expression, and in particular This applies to the rules on extrajudicial blocking.

In early August, Arkhangelsk the regional court canceled the decision of the Kotlas city court on the appointment punishment for activist Vladimir Kotov under Art. 20.29 Administrative Code for unproven circumstances. Kotov was fined 2,000 in July rubles for the fact that on his page in VKontakte in February there were published an image, "which posted the face of a man in black mask (balaclava), [as well as] the inscription “Citizens of Russia, be vigilant! Falling down rating - Wait for terrorist attacks "". This phrase, placed on the demotivator, was banned and included in the Federal List of Extremist materials in 2017, from our point of view, is unfounded: it does not contain no allegations or other allegations that could be considered as extremist. Therefore, we considered the administrative prosecution of Kotov as illegal.

In the middle of the month Industrial The district court of Perm appointed Ivan Shilonosov 50 hours of compulsory work under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (inciting hatred). The reason was a comment that Shilonosov left under a post in one of the communities on VKontakte. By the expert's conclusion, the text of the comment contained "offensive nominations", which were derogatory in relation to representatives of the public service - police officers. According to the prosecutor's office, The comment contained obscene language. From our point of view, employees law enforcement agencies should not be considered a vulnerable social group, protected by anti-extremist legislation. On the contrary, as the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly   noted , they should be exclusively tolerant of criticism, unless it is a real threat of violence.

Limitation passive suffrage

In August election commissions across the country continued to deny registration to candidates, connected in one way or another with the activities of Alexei Navalny's organizations, or annul their nomination in elections at various levels. The basis is a law that came into force on 4 June prohibiting persons from participating in elections "involved" in the activities of organizations recognized as extremist and terrorist. As practice shows, "involvement" in these cases is understood very broadly, but this does not bother either the election commissions or the courts, since willingly confirming their decisions. Not only are they removed from the elections former members of Navalny's organizations, but also candidates who participated in rallies in support of him or who spoke out against his persecution in social networks.

At the end of July, the electoral commission of the Tver region assured the list put forward by the Yabloko party single-mandate candidates to the region's legislative assembly, but excluded activist Artyom Vazhenkov from him because of information received from the Ministry of Justice about him "involvement" in the activities of an extremist organization, namely bringing to administrative responsibility for participating in rallies in support for Navalny. On August 10, the Tver Regional Court dismissed the complaint Vazhenkov for this decision.

City electoral the commission of Berdsk of the Novosibirsk region refused to register in total 12 candidates for deputies of the City Council from the coalition "Berdsk 2021", in in respect of which information was received on "involvement" in activities of Navalny's organizations. Back at the end of July, as we wrote earlier, not Kirill Levchenko was registered. August 2 denials registrations were received by Vyacheslav Yakimenko, Ilya Pukhovsky, Olga Nechaeva and Sergey Kosov, and on August 4 they refused to register Olga Surnacheva and Daniil Markelov. Then similar decisions were made regarding Mikhail Ryazantsev, Irina Selishcheva, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Timofey Kazantsev and Timur Khanova. Of these, only Markelov was for some time the coordinator of the Krasnoyarsk Navalny's headquarters, and Levchenko was an employee of the Novosibirsk headquarters, the rest did not were part of Navalny's organizations. Court decisions that have entered into force bringing to administrative responsibility for participation in protest actions in Navalny's support is available only in relation to Levchenko, Yakimenko and Khanov. IN In other cases, "involvement" was established only on the basis of data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the region on participation in uncoordinated actions, on the fact of delivery candidate to be warned about the inadmissibility of violating the legislation on rallies, dissemination of FBK publications in social networks and expressions of support for FBK and even on the provision of advisory and legal assistance to detainees on rallies. Attempts by Berd candidates to challenge the withdrawal from the elections in the regional court during August did not give results.

August 3 electoral commission of the Pskov region withdrew from the elections to the Pskov regional assembly deputies of the leader of the regional branch of Yabloko Lev Shlosberg and Nikolai Kuzmin, member of the branch council. The reason was their participation in a rally organized by FBK: Schlosberg was brought to administrative responsibility for organizing unmatched promotion on January 23, 2021. However, on August 4, the election commission the decision was canceled, since the court decision on the recognition of the FBK, FZPG and Shtabov Navalny extremist organizations entered into force only 4 August. Later, on August 25, Kuzmin was again removed from the elections - by decision Pskov Regional Court. On August 9, the Moscow City Court canceled the registration of Schlosberg as a candidate for deputies of the State Duma in a single-mandate constituency from the party "Yabloko" in Moscow, this decision was later approved by the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction. Schlosberg said, that he intends to appeal this decision on cassation to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. On August 26, after the decision of the Moscow City Court came into force, the Central the election commission (CEC) excluded Shlosberg from the federal list "Yabloko" in the elections to the State Duma. CEC Chairman Ella Pamfilova noted that she does not consider Schlosberg to have anything to do with extremism, but subject to the judgment of the court. On the same day, the election committee of the Pskov region again withdrew him from the elections to the Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies.

August 4 in Murmansk the election commission refused to register for elections to the city council deputies Violetta Grudina, former coordinator of Navalny's local headquarters.

August 5, 2021 Chekmagushevsky district court removed a public activist from the elections to the district council Ruslana Nurtdinova. Nurtdinov recognized as "involved" in the activities immediately two organizations recognized as extremist - Navalny's headquarters and "Bashkort". He himself explained to the court that he really supported "Bashkort" and the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) before their recognition extremist organizations, and also spoke out in support of Navalny and took part in rallies in January 2021. Recall, "Bashkort" - a Bashkir nationalist organization with aggressive rhetoric was declared extremist in 2020.

August 7 Altai The regional court canceled the registration of the candidate from Yabloko in the elections to the State Duma Victor Rau, who was repeatedly brought to administrative responsibility for organizing actions of Navalny's supporters. At the end of the month the 5th Court of Appeal General Jurisdiction left this decision unchanged.

August 8 electoral commission for the election of deputies of the Legislative Duma of the Tomsk region refused to registration candidate from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Maxim Zabelin due to the fact that he had previously been fined for participating in a rally in support of Alexei Navalny.

August 13 Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan satisfied the administrative claim of the city prosecutor for the recognition SOTA activist and journalist Elena Izotova, who was nominated to the State Duma from Yabloko, a person "involved" in the activities of extremist organizations due to the fact that she collaborated with Navalny's headquarters when observing elections in 2019, demanded the release of Navalny and called for participation in the January actions in support of him, met the head of the local headquarters of Navalny from the TDF, demanded termination of the case of lawyer Ivan Pavlov.

On August 20, the same court in Kazan granted the claim of the district prosecutor and recognized as "involved" in the activities of Navalny's headquarters regional branch of the Yabloko party, a candidate for the State Duma Ruslana Zinatullina.

And on August 28 it became it is known that the prosecutor's office of the Sovetsky district of Kazan demanded to withdraw from the elections Yabloko member Gulnaz Ravilova, who is part of the regional group federal list of "Yabloko" in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation and participates in by-elections of municipal deputies in Zelenodolsk district Tatarstan. According to Ravilova, the prosecutor's office alleges her involvement in activities of Navalny's organizations on the grounds that they are publicly social networks expressed disagreement with the persecution of the politician and the ban on his organizations, and also justified the actions of local activists Andrei Boyarshinov and Timur Tukhvatullin, who were detained for actions in support of Navalny.

August 20 The Central Election Commission of Russia expelled Nizhny Novgorod journalist Natalya Rezontova from list of "Yabloko" in the elections to the State Duma, since in 2017 she collaborated with Navalny's local headquarters and continues to support the politician.

On August 25, it became known that in Kaliningrad the court canceled registration of Alexander Chernikov in the elections to the city council. The court referred to the explanatory letter on the resignation of the head of the headquarters Navalny in Kaliningrad, which Chernikov wrote in the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for combat with extremism in January 2021. The court also took into account monetary translations and some "documents from law enforcement agencies of a non-regional scale, but higher.

August 27 The Novgorod Regional Court canceled the registration of Maxim Nikitin and Roman Maksimov as candidates to the Novgorod Regional Duma from "Apple". The reason was the participation of Nikitin and Maksimov in the rally in support of Navalny in January; then both of them were detained and then administratively punished for participating in an uncoordinated action.

Sanctions for inciting national hatred

At the end of August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Russia was informed that a decision had been made on the undesirability of staying on the territory Russia in relation to stand-up comedian Idrak Mirzalizade - for life term. Mirzalizade is a citizen of Belarus, in March of this year he received a view of Russian residence. In early August, Mirzalizadeh was appointed an administrative arrest for ten days under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (inciting national hatred), and the Moscow City Court approved this decision. The case against Mirzalizade was launched at the end of July. The reason was his remarks about difficulties faced by "non-Slavs" when looking for housing, in release of the show "Acceleration" on YouTube, we talked about this in detail earlier . We believe that for the arrest of Mirzalizade there was no sufficient grounds. His speech, albeit having several provocative form, was devoted to criticism of the xenophobia faced by people from the Caucasus, and in his argument, the comedian directly emphasized negative attitude towards nationalism. A lifetime ban on entry into the country for An administrative offense seems to us to be an unreasonably harsh measure.

The pursuit for the "rehabilitation of Nazism" and the display of Nazi symbols

In August it was issued three sentences under Part 3 of Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (distribution expressing clear disrespect to the society of information about the days of military glory of Russia related to the defense Fatherland committed in public) for uploading photos of the Nazis and their allies to the "Memory Bank" website for public demonstration as part of project "Immortal Regiment Online". Irkutsk Regional Court sentenced Artem Bulachev to 100 hours of compulsory work with confiscation of property him a smartphone. Bulachev uploaded Andrey's photo to the "Memory Bank" Vlasov. The Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court sentenced a 20-year-old student from Sarov Maxim Dobrykh to a fine of 120 thousand rubles with installments for a year for the fact that in May 2020 he uploaded to the Bank memory" on a par with veterans of the Great Patriotic War photo Wehrmacht soldier Hans Beindner, pointing out that it depicts a Soviet soldier Yakub Mazur. The photo has been moderated. Dobrykh pleaded guilty. Seaside The regional court sentenced Roman Kostishin, a resident of Vladivostok, to a fine of 50 thousand rubles for attempting to publish on the Immortal Regiment website photographs by Joseph Goebbels.

We have no doubt that actions of netizens who sent pictures of Nazis and collaborators to the Immortal Regiment website deserve censure, however, we believe that their qualification under Art. 354.1 of the Criminal Code is incorrect. WITH from our point of view, such an action as uploading photos of Nazis to the site, even the day before May 9, in itself, is neither a public endorsement of the crimes of Nazism, nor the dissemination of any information about the days of military glory and memorable dates - especially if no statements approving or denying Nazi crimes, these photographs were not accompanied.

Meanwhile, in the Ulyanovsk region a new similar case was initiated - against a resident of Dimitrovgrad, who sent to the site of the project "Immortal Regiment" "questionnaires with installation data and photographic images of Nazi criminals under the guise of veterans of the Great Patriotic War." His actions were qualified for hours. 1 Article. 354.1 of the Criminal Code (public denial of the facts established the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the approval of the crimes established said sentence, as well as the dissemination of deliberately false information about activities of the USSR during the Second World War), although the photographs uploaded by him, apparently, were not accompanied by any statements that could be be interpreted as endorsing or denying the acts of the Nazis.

From our point of view, persecution under Art. 20.3. Code of Administrative Offenses (public demonstration of prohibited symbols) is appropriate only for the use of Nazi symbols or symbols extremist organizations precisely for the promotion of the corresponding ideology. Unfortunately, added to Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, a note on exceptions when using it does not prevent all cases of such illegal, from our point of view, its application.

Yes, mid-August. Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested for 15 days under Part 1 of Art. 20.3 Administrative Code Pussy Riot member Rita Flores (Margarita Konovalova). The reason was that On June 8, she published a collage on Instagram Stories, in which a photo of a man in Tokio Hotel vocalist Bill Kaulitz's head was photoshopped into a CC uniform; the image was accompanied by the caption "Don't let the glamor take over you." We believe that Flores did not intend to publish this pictures of propaganda of Nazism, so we consider her arrest unlawful.

At the end of the month, the resident Tula Sergey Sosov was arrested for 15 days for posting publications with swastika on Instagram. Earlier, in March, the court arrested Sosov for 10 days the same article, also for posting on Instagram; then he claimed in particular, that he published a Buddhist symbol, and not a Nazi one. Taking decision to arrest, the court, in particular, noted that Sosov was declared warning about the inadmissibility of extremist activity. We have studied the content of Sosov's social media accounts and we believe that he does not aim to violent activity in social networks propaganda of Nazism. So, among the many images published by him, you can find frames from domestic films with actors in Nazi uniforms (from "Seventeen Moments of Spring" and others); historical photo with nurses at a Nazi demonstration, used in an anti-vaccination fast; various memes, including political themes in which Nazi symbols were used as means of political criticism.

At the end of August at Krasnoyarsk was fined a thousand rubles journalist Dmitry Polushin, who ran for the legislative assembly Krasnoyarsk Territory from the Green Party. The reason was the publication which Polushin made on Facebook in February 2019. He posted a quote media manager Tina Kandelaki that the President of Russia in his annual message changed course "from militarization to national socialism", and applied screenshot with the definition of National Socialism, which got a picture from swastika. At the same time, Polushin did not promote Nazism, but explained its essence. and ridiculed Kandelaki, who used this term. As a result of attracting liability under Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses Polushin will not be able to participate in elections in within a year from the date of execution of the decision on administrative offense.

On the same day, the protocol public display of Nazi symbols was drawn up in relation to First Secretary of the Smolensk City Committee of the Komsomol Vladislav Trifonenko, but the court returned the protocol to the police due to violations. Reason for persecution Komsomol member was the publication on VKontakte of a comic from the Polandball series, in which international relations are described as the interaction of balls, painted in the colors of national flags. Image posted by Trifonenko contained Nazi symbols, but was most likely not aimed at Nazi propaganda.

Then we found out that in the Perm Territory, a 22-year-old citizen of Tajikistan was fined for publishing prohibited symbols for a thousand rubles. After that, given that he there was neither a temporary residence permit in Russia, nor a residence permit, in relation to the Tajik citizen, a decision was made on the undesirability of staying (residence) on the territory of Russia for life. We are not aware of what specifically the symbolism and for what purpose the fined person published, but by itself the fact of a single bringing to administrative responsibility under Art. 20.3 The Code of Administrative Offenses should not serve as a sufficient basis for the application of such an exceptionally strict restrictive measure, such as a lifetime ban on entry into country.

The pursuit religious organizations and believers

Witnesses Jehovah

In August continued mass persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses: they are accused of involvement in the activities of local religious organizations that were banned as extremist. From our point of view, these prohibitions did not have legal grounds, and therefore the persecution of believers is unlawful.

According to our There were at least three convictions against Jehovah's Witnesses reported in August.

• Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Andrei Okhrimchuk to four years of imprisonment on probation and a year of restriction of freedom articles on participation in the activities of an extremist organization (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code) and the financing of extremism (Part 1 of Article 282.3 of the Criminal Code).

• Abinskiy the district court of the Krasnodar Territory sentenced Vasily Meleshko from the village of Kholmskaya to three years in prison under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

• Birobidzhan the district court of the Jewish Autonomous Region sentenced Anastasia Guzeva under part 2 Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code to two and a half years of imprisonment conditionally with a probationary period of two years and restriction of freedom for one year.

There were also new defendants in criminal cases on involvement in activities of Jehovah's Witnesses. The suspects or accused were:

• Alexander Shutov, A 68-year-old follower of the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses from the village of Kotikovo Vyazemsky district of the Khabarovsk Territory - according to part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code;

• Maxim Morozov from the city of Taiga, Kemerovo Region, arrested in Tolyatti - under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 UK (organization of the activities of an extremist organization);

• Alexander Litvinyuk and Alexander Dubovenko in the Crimea - according to part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code; both were placed under house arrest;

• unknown believer from Yalta, detained while trying to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border and then arrested by a court in Simferopol - under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code;

• Danil Suvorov from Sochi - according to part 1.1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code (involvement in an extremist organization); he was sent under arrest;

• Edward Sviridov, Alexander Rumyantsev and Guyanese citizen Sean Pike, who were detained and then arrested in Moscow after a series of searches and interrogations - under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code.

Note also that at the end of the month a court in Kurgan released those arrested in July under Part 1 Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of Alexander Lubin and Anatoly Isakov from custody, replacing them preventive measure to prohibit certain actions. This happened after The European Court of Human Rights demanded that Russia take security measures in accordance with rule 39 of the regulations and to urgently release those arrested in connection with the threat of irreparable harm to their life and health. At 56-year-old Isakov cancer of the blood, multiple fractures of the spine and ribs; due to his arrest, he had to interrupt the course of chemotherapy, he did not receive the necessary medicines and experienced severe pain, and in addition, became infected coronavirus. 65-year-old Lubin suffers from vascular disease, in addition, hypertension and an autoimmune disease that requires treatment and oxygen. Before the intervention of the ECtHR Kurgan city and regional courts refused to replace the believers with a measure of restraint.

in the Altai Territory end of the month was fined a thousand rubles under Art. 16.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses on non-compliance customs prohibitions and restrictions, a German citizen who has Barnaul customs officers seized a banned brochure of Jehovah's Witnesses "Humanity in searching for God." According to the woman, she bought the book in Germany and did not assumed that in Russia it is prohibited.

Muslims

At the beginning of August, the Central the district military court found Asgat Khafizov guilty under Part 2 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code (participation in the activities of a terrorist organization) and part 1.1 Art. 205.1 of the Criminal Code (involvement in terrorist activities, including in activities of a terrorist organization, as well as the financing of terrorism). Earlier, in 2017, as part of a group of eight people from Tatarstan, Khafizov was convicted for involvement in the activities of a radical Islamic party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia, according to part 1 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code (organization of the activities of a terrorist organization) and sentenced to 19 years and two months in prison in a strict regime colony. New a criminal case against him was initiated while he was serving time in a colony. By the combination of two sentences, the court sentenced Khafizov to 23 years deprivation of liberty with a mandatory serving of a sentence in prison for three years.

In the middle of the month Southern District military court sentenced four Crimeans who were accused of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir. Lenur Khalilov and Ruslan Mesutov found guilty of preparing for a violent seizure of power (part 1 of Art. 30, art. 278 of the Criminal Code) and part 1 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code and sentenced each to 18 years in prison freedom and additional punishment in the form of a year of restriction of liberty. Ruslan Nagaev received 13 years in prison with a year of restriction of freedom, and Eldar Kantimirov - 12 years with a year of restriction of freedom under Part 1 of Art. 30, art. 278 of the Criminal Code and part 2 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code. All of them will spend the first two years of their sentence in prison, and the rest of the time - in a strict regime colony.

Five people - Raif Fevziev, Zavur Abdullaev, Dzhebbar Bekirov, Rustem Murasov and Rustem Tairov were detained and then arrested in Crimea as defendants under cc. 1 and 2 Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, South district military court returned to the prosecutor's office the case of those accused in 2020 involvement in "Hizb ut-Tahrir" Crimeans Alexander Sizikov, Seyran Khairedinov and Alim Sufyanov. According to information on the website of the court, all of them charged under Part 1 of Art. 205.5 of the Criminal Code and art. 278 of the Criminal Code with the application of Part 1 Art. 30 UK. The reason for returning the case to the prosecutor's office was that that the indictment was not translated into Braille. This violated the right of the blind Alexander Sizikov to defense.

We believe, that the Hizb ut-Tahrir party is banned as a terrorist organization is groundless, since it was not seen to be involved in violence. Accordingly, we regard as unlawful the persecution of her members under anti-terrorist articles only on the basis of party activities (holding meetings, reading literature, etc.).

In the second half month in the Republic of Mordovia, the Proletarsky District Court of Saransk recognized Ryais Tyshkin and Aisa Aizatullina guilty under Part 1 of Art. 282.2 and fined them for 500 thousand rubles. Khafiz Aizatullin was found guilty under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code and fined 300,000. They were accused of involvement in the creation and activities "cells" of a religious movement recognized as extremist Tablighi Jamaat in 2009. Religious movement "Tablighi" Jamaat" was banned in Russia in 2009, in our opinion, without proper grounds. This association was engaged in the propaganda of Islam fundamentalist, but was not seen in any calls for violence, and therefore the persecution of his supporters, from our point of view, is unjustified.

At the end of August Volzhsky the district court of Saratov sentenced a follower of "Tablighi Jamaat" from Volgograd region to two years' imprisonment and six months freedom restrictions. He was found guilty under Part 2 of Art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code that in In 2018, he disseminated the ideas of Tablighi Jamaat online.

At the end of August Naberezhnochelninsky The city court sentenced 63-year-old Nakiya Sharifullina to two years in prison freedom conditionally for hours. 1 Article. 282.2 of the Criminal Code. The prosecutor's office requested seven years for her colonies. According to investigators, in 2015 Sharifullin, being an adherent banned international religious association "Nurcular", created cell of the association and under the guise of conducting classes on the study of the Koran and of the Turkish language gathered citizens and introduced them to the works of the Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi from the collection of "Risale-i Nur", in including the prohibited ones. Earlier, in 2014, Sharifullin also was convicted under the same article; then she was fined 100 thousand rubles. We do not consider it legitimate to ban both the works of Said Nursi and Association "Nurcular", which, as we believe, in Russia is not existed at all, and we oppose the persecution of readers of Nursi's books as members of an extremist organization.