The author of an article about the Soviet mentality of the Russian authorities was arrested for three days

Iskander Yasaveev was found guilty under the article on inciting hatred.

On February 6, 2023, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan sentenced Iskander (Iskender) Yasaveev, a sociologist and columnist of the Idel.Realii publication, previously recognized as a foreign agent, to a sentence of three days of arrest under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity). Yasaveev intends to appeal this decision.

Recall that in relation to Yasaveev a protocol was drawn up under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses became known on January 30. The reason for the persecution was his column “Tomboyish or Soviet: Why is Russia at War?”, published on the Idel.Realii website on June 19, 2022.

The court relied on the opinion of a specialist of Naberezhnye Chelny State University, drawn up at the end of December 2022, according to which “the submitted text contains linguistic signs of incitement to violent actions against a social group on the basis of belonging to a nationality”, “humiliation of human dignity on the basis of social (professional) affiliation” and “incitement of enmity, hatred towards a group of persons identified on social grounds”. Under this very group of persons, the expert meant representatives of the authorities in Russia.

We got acquainted with the text of Yasaveev. The author argued that drawing parallels between the actions of the Russian leadership and members of street gangs in the USSR is incorrect, since the current state of affairs in the country and the armed actions in Ukraine indicate that the Russian authorities are characterized by attitudes characteristic of the so-called "Soviet man": the idea that the country is in the “ring of enemies”, and for the sake of the greatness of the state it is permissible to sacrifice people. To get rid of the “Soviet man”, aggressive and helplessly patient, submissive and cunning, constantly building hierarchies”, according to Yasaveev, not only a change of power is needed, but also decades of democratization and educational work, and without such a process “there can be no certainty that Russia will not again become a threat to the world and itself.”

We did not find any signs of incitement to hatred and, moreover, incitement to violence against officials in the article. As it turned out, the linguist, and after him the court, interpreted the words about the change of power and the threat posed by Russia in this way. In our opinion, neither criticism of the authorities, nor social criticism, in particular, criticism of attitudes and views inherent in citizens, including officials, do not give grounds for prosecution for inciting hatred, enmity, humiliation, especially in this case, when it is expressed in the correct form. We also believe that the authorities do not form a vulnerable social group that needs special protection from manifestations of hatred (moreover, Sova advocates the exclusion of the vague concept of “social group” from anti-extremist legislation). Recall that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation pointed out back in 2011 that criticism in the media of officials 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.

Sources

• Doctor of sociological sciences arrested for three days in Kazan // Network Freedoms. Telegram. February 6, 2023
• Inc. inf.