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Summary of anti-war repression
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The war has been going on for 150 days. In addition to killing civilians in Ukraine, the Russian state continues repression within the country. We present a summary of the main data on the pressure on people for an anti-war position in Russia.
Restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly
Since February 24, 2022, there have been 16,380 arrests in Russia and Crimea for anti-war positions. The assessment is based on information received by OVD-Info or collected from the media and social networks. Not every change in the total number is due to arrests in recent days - we will learn about some cases over time. In addition, there is a possibility that we do not know about all arrests. Here we describe in detail the calculation methodology.
Repression at the legislative level
In July, amendments to the Criminal Code came into force, tightening a number of articles relating to “security threats” to the state. For example, the article on cooperation with “undesirable” organizations (Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code) introduces a ban on such cooperation for Russian citizens, regardless of their place of residence. Criminal liability also appeared for confidential cooperation with foreign states and organizations (Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code), “public calls for activities directed against the security of the state” (Article 280.4 of the Criminal Code), and “production, distribution, public display and propaganda of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols "(Article 283.2 of the Criminal Code).
In July, amendments were adopted in the first reading prohibiting public events near government buildings. A law also came into force establishing turnover fines for foreign IT companies for failure to comply with the landing law.
And also, the law on extrajudicial blocking that came into force in July will only increase the possibilities of Internet censorship, giving the Prosecutor General’s Office the right to close media outlets without trial. And also block sites without court that contain information about discredit and “fake news.” Immediately and without the possibility of unblocking.
In addition, the tactics of legislators are striking: in at least five cases, amendments were made to old, completely irrelevant bills. Thus, amendments introducing criminal liability for “dissemination of knowingly false information about the execution by government agencies of the Russian Federation of their powers” were introduced in the second reading to the bill on liability for destruction or damage to forest plantations, which has been in the State Duma since October last year.
Pressure on defenders
It cannot be said that pressure on human rights activists and lawyers began only after February 24. The police introduced the “Fortress” plan regularly during mass protests; security forces use this regime to deny access to lawyers to defend those detained at peaceful protests. This violates people's right to qualified legal assistance.
Last year, OVD-Info, together with Advokatskaya Street, released a special project “ Fortress Chronicles ”.
Criminal cases
Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code came into force on March 4 of this year, and the first sentence with a real sentence was issued under it this month. Alexey Gorinov, a municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district of Moscow, who at a public meeting called the war a war, received seven years in prison. Alexey did not admit his guilt, unlike others already convicted under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code. The other three sentences under this article: five years probation, a fine of one million rubles, eight months of correctional labor.
During this month, 13 cases were opened under Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code, a total of 75 cases since the beginning of the war
Administrative Affairs
Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses “On discrediting” came into force in March 2022. At the moment, 3,303 protocols are known to be drawn up under this article.
"Foreign agents" and "undesirable organizations"
Over the past month, the Ministry of Justice added to the register of “foreign agents” the Limited Liability Company “Helicopter and Co” - an LLC created by journalist Alexei Pivovarov and 5 individuals: Ruslan Shaveddinov, Maxim Kats, Ilya Yashin, Tatyana Lazareva, Veronika Belotserkovskaya.
At the moment, there are a total of 476 “foreign agents” - these are individuals and legal entities, as well as unregistered public associations. We have prepared an analysis of the new law on “foreign agents,” which was signed on July 14 and will come into force in December of this year.
There are 62 organizations on the “undesirable” list. Since 2015, this status can be assigned to foreign and international non-governmental organizations that, in the opinion of the Russian authorities, pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation, the country’s defense capability or state security.
Since 2021, organizations that cooperate with already recognized “undesirables”, but without being included in the register of “undesirables” due to formal restrictions, are recognized as “undesirable”. This is what happened with “Team 29”, which was essentially recognized as “undesirable”, but was not included in the register.
This month, the Russian-language online publication The Insider was added to the “undesirable” list. There are also three other media outlets on this list: Important Stories, The Project, and Bellingcat.
Blockings and pressure on independent media
This month, the courts recognized the legal blocking of the websites of the publications 7x7 , Taiga.Info and Meduza . In total, according to Roskomsvoboda , more than 5,500 sites are blocked by military censorship.
Links to reports and data from OVD-Info:
Summary of anti-war repressions. June 2022
Report in Russian “ No to war. How Russian authorities are fighting anti-war protests ."
The testimony of the Ukrainian “ No war. How the Russian government will fight against anti-war protests ."
Guide " Anti-war cause ".
Input of information in reply to the call for submissions: Challenges to freedom of opinion and expression in times of conflicts and disturbances .
Alternative report by OVD-Info, Sova and the Media Center on the Russian Federation’s compliance with its international obligations in the field of human rights for the 135th session of the UN Human Rights Committee
Report “ Blocking Internet resources as a tool of political censorship .”
Project on the law on “foreign agents” - “ Inoteka ”.
Report “ How authorities use cameras and facial recognition against protesters .”