Bills have been introduced into the State Duma that would impose criminal liability for “denial of the genocide of the multinational Russian people during the Great Patriotic War.” this . reports RAPSI
Deputies propose to expand the scope of application of the article of the Criminal Code on the rehabilitation of Nazism and punish not only for denial of the facts established by the Nuremberg verdict, but because of “denial of the genocide of the multinational Russian people during the Great Patriotic War.”
“The article on the rehabilitation of Nazism is inherently defective: its application is arbitrary and limits the possibility of scientific discussion and artistic creativity. This article is often used for politically motivated prosecution, ” says OVD-Info lawyer Maria Nemova. “ Now State Duma deputies want to make this article even more rubbery.” The explanatory note to the bill states that the need to change the article is due to the fact that the verdict following the Nuremberg Tribunal does not contain any conclusions about the genocide of the Soviet people. However, it is important to clarify here: this is not a conspiracy against the Soviet people - the very concept of “genocide” became a commonly used legal term later. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, the USSR signed this convention in 1949, and ratified it in 1954. ”
In addition to the bill amending the Criminal Code, deputies also prepared a draft State Duma resolution with a statement on the genocide of the peoples of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. It is likely that when applying the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism in the new edition, the courts will refer specifically to this statement of the State Duma.
“The content of this statement is purely political and propaganda - most of all it says not about the losses of the USSR during the Second World War, but about the inadmissibility of criticism of Russia’s actions during the war in Ukraine. For example, it says that this is “an unambiguous warning to political revanchists” and that recognizing the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people is an “anti-historical Russophobic act.” There was also condemnation of “NATO and the countries of the collective West, led by the United States, in Ukraine’s anti-Russian speeches,” Nemova assesses the document.
There is a possibility that statements and actions in support of Ukraine will now be widely classified as a rehabilitation of Nazism.
“Punishment for the rehabilitation of Nazism has an additional “shameful” effect for the convicted person compared, for example, with punishment for discrediting the army or military fakes. The proposed amendments are another way to create the appearance of legitimacy of arbitrary law enforcement, suppress freedom of speech and assembly in Russia, impose mandatory state ideology and discriminate against people with beliefs that are not approved by the Russian state , ” concludes the OVD-Info lawyer.
- After the start of the war with Ukraine, the number of cases under the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism (Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code) increased sharply - presumably, security forces use this article to put pressure on those who could potentially oppose the “special operation” in Ukraine and its “denazification.” According to the SOVA Research Center, many cases under Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code are initiated unlawfully and should be classified under other articles of the Criminal Code or resolved within the framework of civil rather than criminal proceedings.