The authorities will be able to attract the left Russians under the "political" articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses. Didn't they attract before? Or now they will do it more often?

Here are two answers: as simple as possible (you will read it in a minute) and a little more complicated

As briefly (and without complex legal formulations)

The new bill allows the Russians who are abroad to be held accountable for several repressive Code of Administrative Offenses.

In fact, this will not affect people's lives - neither within the country nor abroad. Already now, the vessels do not care where the “offender” is located - they will finish everyone in a row (although this approach can be considered illegal). In addition, if the bill is accepted, it is unlikely that there will be more cases on the articles listed in it. Criminal cases under the law can even be brought to a person with any citizenship - and located in any country. Please be careful (and use our instructions if you are abroad and suspect that the authorities have opened a criminal case against you).

A little genuine: commentary lawyer for the human rights project "OTD-Info" Eva Lovenberg

The Government of the Russian Federation approved a bill that will bring to administrative responsibility under several articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russians abroad. These articles:

• The distribution of inaccurate socially significant information in the media and the Internet, which poses a threat to public order (part 9 and part 10 of Article 3.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses);
• Insulting the head of state, officials and state symbols (part 3-5 of article 20.1 );
• Excitement of hatred or enmity ( article 20.3.1 );
• Calls for violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation ( Article 20.3.2 );
• "Discrediting" of the armed forces ( Article 20.3.3 );
• Calls to the introduction of restrictive measures against the Russian Federation and its citizens ( Article 20.3.4 ).

The deputies also proposed to extend the statute of limitations for liability for these articles up to two years.

In fact, this is a plug of formal gap in legislation, which will not change anything in repressive practice. The courts already ignore that the alleged violation occurred outside of Russia - although this can be interpreted as non -compliance with the law. The problem is that the authorities have long been carelessly related to the process of proof in administrative affairs. For them, this is a conveyor, so they are not ready to spend time on identifying the “place of commission” of an offense, considering it insignificant. The courts receive materials on publications on the Internet that does not indicate in which country the act is committed - and this is perceived by law enforcement as the norm.

According to the OVD-Info, in cases related to the “discrediting” of the Armed Forces ( Article 20.3.3 ), the territorial jurisdiction (that is, Article 1.8 ) was mentioned only three times since February 2022. At the same time, the courts insisted that the protocol for the act committed outside the Russian Federation is drawn up at the place of identification of the offense, that is, in all cases - in Russia. To summarize: now the judges do not care in which country the offender is located. In addition, if the bill is accepted, it is unlikely that there will be more cases on the articles listed in it.

However, it is important to remember: for many of these articles (excitement of hatred or enmity, calls for violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, the “discredit” of the army, calls for the introduction of sanctions) the second administrative protocol, drawn up throughout the year, may lead to initiation of a criminal case. Please take care of yourself.

Changing the statute of limitations, too, can also affect. Law enforcement agencies consider actions related to publications on the Internet “consuming offenses”. This means that they calculate the statute of limitations from the moment of discovery of the comment, and not from the moment of its publication. Therefore, the courts willingly hold Russians accountable even for posts of ten years ago. The extension of the statute of limitations up to two years does not affect the possibility of persecution - this is more likely to be the time from the date of detection by publication authorities, during which the court should have time to make a decree on the sentence.

"Medusa" and " OTD-info"