The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow received materials from an administrative case against blogger Ilya Varlamov under the article on the absence of “foreign agent” markings on publications (Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). The production card appeared on the court’s website.
The meeting date has not yet been set. It is unknown which publications Varlamov was charged with.
The Ministry of Justice added Varlamov to the register of “foreign agents” on March 23. The agency justified the decision by saying that the blogger was disseminating “inaccurate information about the decisions made by public authorities and the policies they pursue.” In August, a blogger was fined 30 thousand rubles due to the absence of a “foreign agent” sign on several Telegram posts.
- The legislation on “foreign agents” is becoming stricter every year. On December 1, 2022, the law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence” came into force, as well as numerous legislative amendments to “foreign agency” regulation. You can read about the list of “affiliated persons”, new registers and other innovations in the law on “foreign agents” in the analysis of OVD-Info .
- In addition, Vladimir Putin signed a law on imprisonment for a term of up to five years for “foreign agents” who were brought to justice twice in a year for violating the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” (Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code).
- In the fall of 2021, OVD-Info launched the Inoteka project . We explore the practice of applying laws on “foreign agents”, talk about their impact on civil society and specific people, initiate discussions with experts and suggest ways of possible changes. In December 2021, together with the Center for the Protection of Media Rights, we began to provide legal support to people and organizations that were included in the registers of “foreign agents.”