“We’ll put you in prison, what can we do?” – the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs threatened rappers with criminal liability for “drug propaganda” in their tracks

Deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Zubov, during a speech in the Duma committee, announced the government’s plans to amend the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code in order to hold rap artists accountable for songs that mention drugs. attention to this . drew RIA Novosti

“This means that preventive conversations will have to be held with rappers who sing about drugs at the administrative level. If they continue, we’ll put them in prison, where else can we go? Let them get ready then. But after 2024,” added Zubkov.

The innovations will affect not only musicians - they also plan to hold them accountable for “drug propaganda” in cinema, the Internet and social networks. TASS writes that the State Duma committee supported the initiative.

The texts of the bills have already been published on the website of the legislative support system. Thus, as part of the amendments to the Administrative Code, it is proposed to amend Article 16.3 by adding a provision on “drug propaganda” using the Internet.

According to the text of the bill, such an offense will be punishable by a fine of 5 to 30 thousand rubles for individuals, from 50 to 100 thousand for officials, from 1 million to 1.5 million rubles for legal entities. If a person engaged in entrepreneurial activity without a legal entity is brought to justice, he can be fined in the amount of 50 to 100 thousand rubles.

For failure to remove information that contained “propaganda of prohibited substances,” providers and owners of Internet resources will be held accountable under Article 13.41 of the Administrative Code.

a new article to the Criminal Code At the same time, they want to add - 230.3 of the Criminal Code - under it, those who were previously found guilty of committing a similar administrative offense will be able to be held accountable for “drug propaganda”. Punishment includes fines, compulsory and correctional labor, as well as restriction or imprisonment for up to two years.

If the bills are adopted, the amendments should come into force on January 1, 2024.