Khovansky's case went to court

Prosecution of a video blogger under Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code may be terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

On July 4, 2022, the 2nd Western District Military Court registered the case of video blogger Yuri Khovansky, accused of publicly justifying terrorism (Part 1 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code). His prosecution may be terminated due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. This was announced by the head of the international human rights group "Agora" Pavel Chikov.

The reason for initiating the case was that Khovansky sang on the stream of blogger Andrey Nifedov a song about the terrorist attack that occurred during the musical "Nord-Ost". The lyrics of the song began with the line "Nord-Ost - it was ******* [great]", and the terrorists Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduyev were called "real heroes" in it.

Initially, the case was initiated under Part 2 of Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code (public justification of terrorism on the Internet). At first, the investigation believed that Khovansky performed the song “no later than July 3, 2020,” and then that this happened in 2018. The video blogger's defense insisted that the song was performed back in 2012. Khovansky was finally charged under Part 1 of Art. 205.2 (Public Justification of Terrorism) - apparently as amended on December 10, 2011. The statute of limitations for this charge has expired.

From June to December 2021, Khovansky was in a pre-trial detention center. Then his preventive measure was changed to a ban on certain actions.

We doubt the legitimacy of the persecution of Khovansky under Art. 205.2 of the Criminal Code, regardless of the statute of limitations. Although the song he performed was obviously provocative in nature, it seems to us that it was intended not to provoke terrorist activity, but to ridicule the discourse that has developed around this topic, both the calls of supporters of militant Islamism and the intimidation of society in connection with the terrorist threat. Taking into account the intonation of the song, the audience of Khovansky and Nifedov, as well as the culture of Russian video bloggers permeated with irony, we believe that the public danger of such a performance is extremely small. Such creativity may sound offensive to the relatives of those who died in the terrorist attack on Dubrovka, and a discussion about the ethics and acceptability of such "black humor" would be a completely natural reaction on the part of society. However, the criminal article on the justification of terrorism does not provide for liability either for insults or for unethical irony.

Sources

• Case card No. 1-140/2022 // Website of the 2nd Western District Military Court. 2022. July 5.
• The criminal case of Yuri Khovansky went to court. He will not be punished // Pavel Chikov. Telegram. 2022. 7 July.