An activist from Bashkortostan was fined under Art. 20.3.1 Code of Administrative Offenses for a video criticizing the police and civil servants

Farit Rakhmatullov was fined for a video criticizing the authorities.

On October 13, 2021, the Ishimbay City Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan found local activist Farit Rakhmatullov guilty of an administrative offense under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (inciting hatred or enmity) and fined him five thousand rubles.

The reason was the fact that on March 18, on the channel of his wife Alfiya Rakhmatullova, a video “Wake up the people” was published with a speech by Farit. Experts from the Bashkir Forensic Laboratory of the Ministry of Justice of Russia found in his words linguistic and psychological signs of humiliation of law enforcement officers and state structures.

In connection with the state of health of Rakhmatullov, his property status, the presence of a dependent minor child, the court sentenced him to a punishment less than the minimum, provided for in Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

We believe that Rakhmatullov was wrongfully brought to justice. In his emotional speech, he really spoke negatively about the police and officials, calling them "fascists", "dogs", "policemen", "creatures", etc. However, he did not allow any calls for violence. As repeatedly   noted the European Court of Human Rights has , law enforcement officers must be extremely tolerant of criticism, if it is not a real threat of violence. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in its ruling "On Judicial Practice in Criminal Cases on Crimes of an Extremist Direction" dated June 28, 2011 also emphasized, with reference to the practice of the ECtHR, that the permissible limits for criticizing civil servants in the media are wider than the permissible limits for criticizing private individuals; we believe that this clarification should extend beyond the media. Let us add that we are generally in favor of excluding the vague concept of "social group" from the anti-extremist legislation.

Sources

• Bashkir activist fined because of video about security forces // OVD-Info. 2021. October 21.
• Case card No. 5-873/2021 // Website of the Ishimbai District Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan. 2021. October 21.