A Krasnoyarsk resident was fined for inciting hatred towards officials, security forces and members of United Russia

The opposition-minded commentator of the Krasnoyarsk website was fined under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

On June 23, 2022, the Leninsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk fined 15 thousand rubles under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity) by Andrei Khokhlov, a supporter of the movement "For New Socialism" Nikolai Platoshkin.

The basis for the initiation of the case by the district prosecutor's office was the materials of the inspection conducted by the FSB in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The department found that Khokhlov under the pseudonym "Seva" wrote comments on the regional website Newslab. According to the linguistic expert involved in the verification, nine comments published in 2021-2022 contained signs of inciting hostility and hatred towards the social and professional groups "representatives of the authorities of the Russian Federation", "representatives of law enforcement agencies", "representatives of the United Russia party »".

We got acquainted with the comments that served as the reason for bringing Khokhlov to justice. He criticized " oligarch thieves " and " corrupt officials ", called "United Russia" a " party of swindlers and thieves " and urged to send it " into a bucket ", and its members - " to bunk beds with confiscation ". Khokhlov also demanded the release of political prisoners, called officials’ refusals to approve opposition rallies in January 2021 unconstitutional, and said that the police officers who dispersed the rallies and gave the appropriate orders were “criminals . ” To the news "In Krasnoyarsk, the conductor kicked an elderly woman out of the bus due to the lack of a mask," he left a comment in which he supported the fighting spirit of both participants in the conflict and urged them to come to the next rally and reconcile there. In addition, he criticized the methods of investigating the criminal cases of Kansk teenagers, New Greatness, associates of Alexei Navalny, as well as Artem Zagrebelny from Krasnoyarsk, who was convicted of spraying pepper spray on FSB officers. In the latter case, the participants in the incident, he offered " to shoot before the formation of comrades in the courtyard of the FSB at the morning divorce as deserters and traitors who left the battlefield and abandoned their comrade-in-arms .

From our point of view, Khokhlov was held liable under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is illegal. We believe that neither officials, nor representatives of a particular political party, nor law enforcement officers form social groups that need special protection from incitement to hatred (moreover, we believe that the vague concept of "social group" should be excluded from the norms anti-extremist legislation). back in 2011 It should be noted that the Supreme Court of Russia pointed out that criticism in the media of officials (professional politicians) should not in itself be considered as an act aimed at humiliating dignity, since the limits of permissible criticism of officials are wider than those of individuals. From our point of view, this argument applies not only to publications in the media. Representatives of law enforcement agencies should be extremely tolerant of criticism, if it is not a real threat of violence (which has been repeatedly noted   , in particular, by the European Court of Human Rights). Khokhlov's comments, from our point of view, did not contain such a threat: the words about the execution of individual FSB officers had zero chances of being implemented, it was nothing more than an emotional reaction to a socially significant incident.

Sources

• Case card No. 5-746/2022 // Website of the Leninsky District Court of Krasnoyarsk. 2022. June 30.