The Establishment of Anti-Extremism Legislation and the Demand for Textual Analysis in Its Application

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the expansion of the legislative ban against hate speech in post-Soviet Russia and explores the application of this ban in the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code.

Notes

¹ There have been numerous attempts to collect and sort through these norms. I tried to summarize those overviews in a book dedicated to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) countries’ laws in the area that we in Russia understand as countering extremism. The very diversity of those laws is extremely telling in and of itself. See, A. Verkhovsky, Criminal Law on Hate Crime, Incitement to Hatred and Hate Speech in OSCE Participating States. Moscow: SOVA Center, 2016.

² Shmidt, Iurii. “Iuridicheskii aspekt problemy. Sovremennaia situatsiia [Legal aspect of the problem. Current situation].” In Politicheskii ekstremizm v Rossii [Political extremism in Russia]. Moscow: Institute for Experimental Sociology, 1996, p. 28.

³ That concept was first formulated in various original commentaries to the Criminal Code, but it was only formally recorded in 2011 in a June 28 order by the Supreme Court, to which we will be referring later.

After 2011, that order was amended, but it is accessible here in the original: “RF Supreme Court Plenary Order no. 11, “On court practice in criminal cases regarding crimes of extremism [in Russian].” Sova Center, June 29, 2011 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/docs/2011/06/d21988/).

⁴ I examined the history of Russian anti-extremist law writing, from the actual beginning of Russian sovereignty until the law was adopted in 2002, in: A. Verkhovsky, Gosudarstvennaia politika po otnosheniiu k natsional-radikal’nym ob’edineniiam v 1991-1992 gg. [State policy with respect to radical nationalist organizations from 1991 to 1992]. Moscow: Sova Center, 2013 (second edition).

⁵ Lev Levinson, “S ekstremizmom budut borot’sia po-stalinski [They’ll fight extremism the Stalinist way],” Rossiiskii biulleten’ po pravam cheloveka [Russian Human Rights Bulletin], 2002, no. 16.

⁶ “A. Verkhovsky, Poiasnitel’naia zapiska ob antiekstremistskom zakonodatel’stve [Explanatory note on anti-extremist legislation].” January 15, 2016, (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/publications/2016/01/d33639/).

⁷ “Obshchestvennyi sovet ‘Sanatsii prava’ rekomendoval k otmene st. 282 UK [Sanatsiia prava public council recommends annulling Art. 282 of the Criminal Code].” February 17, 2016, (http://sanatsia.com/reestr-zakonov/1808/).

⁸ For a survey of the literature regarding these searches, see, T. McGonagle, “A Survey and Critical Analysis of Council of Europe Strategies for Countering ‘Hate Speech.’” In The Content and Context of Hate Speech: Rethinking Regulations and Responses, ed. M. Herz and P. Molnar. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 456–498.

⁹ During the adoption of the new criminal code in the mid-90s, this formulation came to replace “incitement of strife and enmity,” but there was no change to be seen in legal practice as a result of that difference.

¹⁰ These amendments are provided in visual form in: Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2007. Moscow: SOVA Center, 2008. p. 108–110.

¹¹ They were presented in a message from the Human Rights Council to the RF Supreme Court, composed by author and former RF Constitutional Court judge Tamara Morshakova: Sovet predostavil Verkhovnomu sudu RF spravku ob otdel’nykh aspektakh pravoprimenitel’noi praktiki po st. 205.5, 282.2 UK RF [Council presents RF Supreme Court with information on individual aspects of the practice of legal administration for Arts. 205.5 and 282.2 of the RF Criminal Code]. Human Rights Council website, May 14, 2019, (http://president-sovet.ru/presscenter/news/read/5490/)

¹² The ruling is accessible on the Memorial website: http://old.memo.ru/hr/jbl/doc/2.htm.

¹³ This is the position not just of the author of this article, but of the ECHR: Case of Kasymakhunov and Saybatalov v. Russia. ECHR, March 24, 2013 (http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-117127).

¹⁴ For more details, see, the report of the Moscow Helsinki Group: “Tsena pravdy o Chechne [The price of the truth about Chechnya],” 2006 (http://www.mhg.ru/publications/A1AD606).

¹⁵ Case of Dmitriyevskiy v. Russia. (Application No. 42168/06.) Judgement, ECHR, October 3, 2017, (http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-177214).

Here and throughout this article, the word “expert analysis” [ekspertiza] means not just forensic expert analysis, but all scholarly texts used by the parties in a court case, regardless of the procedural status of those texts.

¹⁶ For an overview of 2018 decisions, see: Maria Kravchenko, “Inappropriate Enforcement of Anti-Extremist Legislation in Russia in 2018,” in Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2018. Moscow: SOVA Center, 2019. p. 63-66.

¹⁷ “Kommentarii ‘Sovy’ o postanovlenii plenuma VS ob ekstremistskikh i terroristicheskikh prestupleniiakh [Sova’s comments on the Supreme Court Plenary Order on extremism and crimes of terrorism],” Sova Center, November 3 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/publications/2016/11/d35761/); “Postanovldnie Plenuma Verkhovnogo Suda Rossiiskoi Federatsii N 41 o voprosakh sudebnoi praktiki po ugolovnym delam terroristicheskoi i ekstremistskoi napravlennosti (ot 3 noiabria 2016 g.) [Plenary Order of the Russian Federation Supreme Court no. 41 on issues of court practice in criminal cases of terrorism and extremism (November 3, 2016)],” Sova Center, November 28 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/docs/2016/11/d35905/).

¹⁸ On the practice of administering the law in the early years of the new legislation’s existence, see, A. Verkhovsky and G. Kozhevnikova, “Three Years of Combating Extremism.” SOVA Center. 2005. 8 December (https://www.sova-center.ru/en/xenophobia/reports-analyses/2005/12/d6638/).

¹⁹ This condition, despite commonly made assertions, applied exclusively to inciting social strife. It was added to the definition of extremism in 2002 upon the insistence of the RF Communist Party and deleted in 2007.

²⁰ A large selection of materials on the topic is provided on the Sakharov Museum website: http://old.sakharov-center.ru/museum/exhibitionhall/religion_notabene/.

²¹ For more details, see, “Podrobnosti ugolovnogo dela v otnoshenii natsbola Mikhaila Deeva [Details of the case of National Bolshevik Mikhail Deev],” Sova Center, February 4, 2010 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2010/02/d17925/).

²² Quoted from a ruling by Omsk Regional Court, April 30, 2004, on banning organizations of the so-called Old Believer-Ynglings: “Sudebnoe reshenie o likvidatsii pravoradikal’nykh organizatsii v Omske [Court ruling on the liquidation of rightwing organizations in Omsk],” Sova Center, April 30, 2004 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/docs/2004/04/d8899/).

²³ We can rely, for example, on a corresponding order from the Prosecutor General’s Office. On this, see: “Chto iavliaetsia ‘prestupleniem ekstremistskoi napravlennosti’ [What is a ‘crime of extremism’],” Sova Center, June 12, 2010 (https://www.sova-center.ru/directory/2010/06/d19018/).

²⁴ E Center is the Center for Combating Extremism, a unit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The unit was established by decree No. 1316 of the President of the Russian Federation on 16 September 2008.

²⁵ Corresponding amendments were made in 2006. See: “Reshenia Mosgorsuda o zapreshchenii NBP ot 19.04.2007 [Moscow Municipal Court decision to ban NBP dated 4/19/2007],” Sova Center, July 30, 2007 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/docs/2007/07/d11323/).

²⁶ Postavlenie Plenuma Verkhovnogo suda RF no. 11 “O sudebnoi praktike po ugolovnym delam o prestupleniiakh ekstremistskoi napravlennosti” [RF Supreme Court Plenary Order no. 11, “On court practice in criminal cases regarding crimes of extremism”]. Sova Center, June 29, 2011 (http://www.supcourt.ru/Show_pdf.php?Id=7315).

²⁷ Their activities were banned in 2009 for being the activities of the Nourjular organization, which did not even exist in Russia.

²⁸ For instance, in one trial for members of Other Russia accused of continuing the activities of the banned NBP, the main question posed to expert witnesses was formulated as follows: “Might the meetings of the group of individuals found in the video and audio materials relate to another organization (or movement), different from the NBP, that has borrowed the ideology, symbols, and in part the name of the NBP, inherited those symbols from the NBP or is imitating its activities (independence, dissimilarity) from the NBP, and yet not constitute the NBP or a structural subdivision of the NBP?” Cited from: “Zakliuchenie sotsiogumanitarnogo issledovaniia po delu chlenov SPB organizatsii ‘Drugaia Rossiia,’ 25.07.2012 [Findings of the social-science and humanities research on the case of SPB members of the Other Russia organization, 7/25/2012].” Archives of D.V. Dubrovskiy.

²⁹ This is discussed in more detail in the aforementioned Spravka SPCh (“Sovet predostavil Verkhovnomu sudu RF … ”).

³⁰ “Postanovlenie o privlechenii v kachestve obviniaemogo [Ruling on indictment as a defendant].” Author’s archives.

³¹ As in the case of the Mari pagan priest Tanakov, which started in the summer of 2006: “Broshiura zhretsa stala predmetom obvineniia po st.282 UK [Priest’s brochure focus of charges under Criminal Code Art. 282],” Sova Center, August 31, 2006 (https://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/extremism/counter-extremism/2006/08/d8959/).

³² “Prizyv k sozdaniiu nezavisimykh profsoiuzov kak ekstremizm [Call to create independent trade unions as extremism],” Sova Center, August 31, 2006 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2009/10/d17229/).

³³ “Partii ROT FRONT otkazano v registratsii [ROT FRONT Party denied registration],” Sova Center, August 31, 2006 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/other-actions/2011/04/d21384/).

³⁴ However, it is worth mentioning that as early as in the first decision to ban an organization under anti-extremism legislation — the ban of the Omsk organization RNE on October 10, 2002 — one of the arguments was that an RNE leaflet was “insulting and slanderous with respect to the organs of government.” See, “Sudebnoe reshenie o likvidatsii Omskogo otdeleniia RNE [Court ruling on the liquidation of the Omsk division of RNE],” Sova Center, October 10, 2002 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/docs/2002/10/d8900/).

³⁵ “Verkhovnyi Sud Rossii o zaprete ‘Gossoveta Balkarii’ i gazety ‘Balkariia’ [Russian Supreme Court on the ban of Gossoveta Balkarii and the newspaper Balkariia],” Sova Center, August 25, 2006 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/docs/2006/08/d8928/).

³⁶ “V Primor’e gazete vynesli preduprezhdenie za perepechatku obrashcheniia ingushskikh oppozitsionerov [In Primoria, newspaper given warning for reprinting message from Ingushetian oppositionists],” Sova Center, November 7, 2008, (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2008/11/d14574/).

³⁷ In its Ruling no. 41 of November 3, 2016, already mentioned previously, the Supreme Court also pointed to the list of Criminal Code statutes that it was illegal (under Art. 205.2) to call on people to violate. These are Arts. 205-206 (evidently with the exception of Art. 205.6 [failure to report a crime], which was new at the time), 208, 211, 220, 221, 277, 278, 279, 360, and 361 of the Criminal Code.

³⁸ “Kto lishen svobody za ‘ekstremistskie prestupleniia’ ne obshcheugolovnogo kharaktera. Fevral’ 2017 [Who is imprisoned for ‘crimes of extremism’ that are not conventional crimes. February 2017],” Sova Center, February 20, 2017 https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/publications/2017/02/d36413/).

³⁹ The most complimentary phrase toward ISIS was an assertion by Kungurov that ISIS was conducting an active social welfare policy on the territory it controlled.

⁴⁰ For a graph showing all the Criminal Code statutes of interest to us here, see: Antiekstremizm: rossiiskaia pravoprimenitel’naia praktika i evropeiskie garantii svobody slova [Anti-extremism: Russian legal administration practices and European guarantees of free speech]. Moscow: Article 19 and Sova Center, 2019, p. 52 (accessible online: https://www.sova-center.ru/files/books/a19_sova_rus.pdf).

⁴¹ A. Verkhovsky, Criminal Law on Hate Crime, Incitement to Hatred and Hate Speech in OSCE Participating States. p. 56-61.

⁴² “V Ekaterinburge sud napravil na prinuditel’noe lechenie ‘magistra magii vudu,’ oskorbivshego chuvstva veruiushchikh [Yekaterinburg court sends ‘vodoo magic master’ who offended the sensibilities of believers to compulsory treatment],” Sova Center, April 13, 2016 (https://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/authorities/feelings/2016/04/d34292/).

⁴³ For more details regarding the problematic aspects of these two statutes, see, A. Verkhovsky, “Zakonoproekt, vyrazhaiushchii neuvazhenie k zdravomu smyslu [A bill expressing disrespect for common sense],” Ezhednevnyi zhurnal, May 20, 2013 (http://ej.ru/?a=note&id=12957).

⁴⁴ “Zhitel’ Kalugi oshtrafovan za ‘nasmeshki nad institutom monashestva’ [Kaluga resident fined for ‘mocking the institute of monasticism’]” Sova Center, September 29, 2015 (https://www.sova-center.ru/religion/news/authorities/feelings/2015/09/d32906/).

⁴⁵ A. Verkhovsky, Criminal Law on Hate Crime, Incitement to Hatred and Hate Speech in OSCE Participating States, pp. 52-55.

⁴⁶ “Syktyvkarskomu internet-izdaniiu ne pridetsia platit’ shtraf za upominanie narodnogo nazvaniia Vechnogo ognia [Syktyvkar internet publication will not have to pay fine for mentioning the popular name of the Eternal Flame],” Sova Center, June 2, 2016 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2016/06/d34702/).

⁴⁷ “Verkhovnyi sud ostavil v sile prigovor permiaku Luzginu za reabilitatsiiu natsizma [Supreme Court upholds sentence against Perm resident Luzgin for rehabilitating Nazism],” Sova Center, September 1, 2016 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2016/09/d35321/).

⁴⁸ Russian Supreme Court Plenary Order no. 41.

⁴⁹ For this, amendments were made not to the Code of Administrative Offenses, but to the Law on Immortalizing the Victory of the Soviet People in the Great Fatherland War of 1941 to 1945.

⁵⁰ And that fine was imposed at far below the lowest limit: 15,000 rubles. See, Syktyvkar: shtraf za illiustratsiiu k novosti [Syktyvkar: A fine for an illustration with the news],” Sova Center October 13, 2015 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2015/10/d33012/).

⁵¹ “Not considered to be a crime is an action (or a failure to act) which, while formally containing elements of an act included under this Code, is in fact so insignificant as to pose no public danger.”

⁵² “‘Ekho Moskvy v Pskove’ i ‘Pskovskuiu lentu novostei’ oshtrafovali za peredachu o vzryve v Arkhangel’ske [‘Echo of Moscow in Pskov’ and ‘Pskov News Feed’ fined for reporting about explosion in Arkhangelsk],” Sova Center, February 7, 2019 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2019/02/d40620/).

⁵³ This package of laws is called the ‘Yarovaya Law’ after Irina Yarovaya, a member of the State Duma and a principal author of the laws. This set of laws expanded the competence of the federal authorities with regard to counter-terrorism and created data storage rules for online data distributors in Russia.

⁵⁴ Olga Sibireva, “Freedom of Conscience in Russia: Restrictions and Challenges in 2016,” in Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2016. Moscow: SOVA Center, 2017. pp. 86-87.

⁵⁵ Andrei Klishas, a representative of the Krasnoyarsk Krai in the Federation Council, authored this set of laws.

⁵⁶ Seleznev, Stanislav, “Votum neuvazheniia prezidentu: pervoe polugodie ‘zakona Klishasa’ [A vote of disrespect for the president: the first half year of the Klishas Law],” Meduza, September 30, 2019 (https://meduza.io/static/0001/Agora_Report_Disrespect_For_The_President.pdf).

⁵⁷ The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission). Opinion on the Federal Law on Combating Extremist Activity of the Russian Federation adopted by the Venice Commission at its 91st Plenary Session, 15-16 June, 2012, (https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-AD(2012)016-e).

⁵⁸ “KS podtverdil zapret demonstratsii natsistskoi simvoliki [CC upholds ban on displays of Nazi symbols],” Sova Center, November 27, 2014 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/lawmaking/2014/11/d30736/); “KS podtverdil zapret svastiki i utverzhdeniia istinnosti tol’ko odnoi religii [CC upholds ban on swastika and assertion that only one religion is genuine”], Sova Center, March 4, 2015 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/lawmaking/2015/03/d31422/).

⁵⁹ Postanovlenie Plenuma Verkhovnogo Suda Rossiiskoi Federatsii ot 15 iiunia 2010 g. no. 16 g. Moskva, “O praktike primeneniia sudami Zakona Rossiiskoi Federatsii ‘O sredstvakh massovoi informatsii’ [Russian Federation Supreme Court Plenary Order no. 16, June 15, 2010, City of Moscow, ‘On the Practice of Applying the Russian Federation Law on the Media in Courts,’” Rossiiskaia gazeta, June 18, 2010 (http://www.rg.ru/2010/06/18/smi-vs-dok.html).

⁶⁰ Order no. 41.

⁶¹ “Prekrashsheno presledovanie Ol’gi Li po st. 282 UK [Prosecution of Olga Li under Criminal Code Art. 282 called off],” Sova Center, October 6, 2016 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2016/10/d35551/).

⁶² For details, see: Verkhovsky, A. “Protivodeistvie ‘religioznomu ekstremizmu’: rossiiskoe gosudarstvo v poiskakh otvetov na vyzovy desekuliarizatsii [Countering ‘religious extremism’: The Russian state searches for answers to the challenges of desecularization],” Gosurdarstvo, religiia, Tserkov’ v Rosii i za rubezhom, 2013, no. 2 (31), pp. 134–158.

⁶³ This campaign dates back to early in 2009. Every stage of it was described in the Sova Center’s annual reports about problems in exercising freedom of conscience. They are all accessible on the Sova Center website: https://www.sova-center.ru/en/religion/publications/.

⁶⁴ Ponomarev, Vitalii. Rossiiskie spetssluzhby protiv ‘Risale-i Nur’: 2001–2012 [Russian special services versus ‘Risale-i Nur’: 2001–2012]. Moscow: Memorial Human Rights Center, 2012.

⁶⁵ “Otmeneno reshenie o priznanii ekstremistskim perevoda Korana [Decision to declare Quran translation extremist revoked],” Sova Center, December 17, 2013 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/counteraction/2013/12/d28637/).

⁶⁶ For a brief discussion of the experts’ arguments, see: “Bibliia v perevode Svidetelei Iegovy priznana ekstremistskoi [Bible in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ translation declared extremist],” Sova Center, August 18, 2017 (http://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2017/08/d37666/).

⁶⁷ We must admit that it is not always simple to recognize satire. One vivid example of this is the list of banned songs by the Tver group “Ensemble of Christ the Savior and Mother Earth.” “Tvorchestvo gruppy ‘Ansambl’ Khrista Spasitelia i Mat’ Syra Zemlia’ opiat’ v Federal’nom spiske ekstremistskikh materialov [Work of the group ‘Ensemble of Christ the Savior and Mother Earth’ again on the Federal List of extremist materials],” December 14, 2018 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2018/12/d40417/).

⁶⁸ For more details, see: “Vstupil v silu zakon 2018 goda o protsessual’noi reforme, predusmatrivaiushchii novuiu protseduru zapreta materialov [2018 law on procedural reform containing new procedure to ban materials enters into force],” Sova Center, October 1, 2019 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/lawmaking/2019/10/d41582/).

⁶⁹ Yudina, Natalia. “Countering or Imitation: The state against the promotion of hate and the political activity of nationalists in Russia in 2017,” in Xenophobia, Freedom of Conscience and Anti-Extremism in Russia in 2017. Moscow: SOVA Center, 2018, pp. 18-37.

⁷⁰ Verkhovsky, A. Criminal Law on Hate Crime, Incitement to Hatred and Hate Speech in OSCE Participating States, pp. 36-51.

⁷¹ “Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” UN web-site. 2013 (http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Opinion/SeminarRabat/Rabat_draft_outcome.pdf). UN website, February 21, 2013 (http://www.ohchr.org/RU/NewsEvents/Stories/Pages/TheRabatPlanofAction.aspx).

The text is available on the UN website only in English: Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, UN website, 2013 (http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Opinion/SeminarRabat/Rabat_draft_outcome.pdf).

The Sova Center made an unofficial translation into Russian: Sova Center, November 6, 2014 (http://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/publications/2014/11/d30593/).

⁷² One important point was a reference by the Prosecutor General’s Office to this provision of the order in a case that had nothing to do with extremism, but was much more prominent than extremism cases tend to be: the case of Evgenii Chudnovets, charged with re-posting a video showing child abuse, although his re-post clearly condemned that abuse. See a fragment of the prosecutor’s statement on the Facebook page of Chudnovets’s attorney, Aleksei Bushmakov: Note from February 23, 2017 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=633006373491385&set=a.192559857536041.18643.100003460858779&type=3&theater).

⁷³ I analyzed this turning point in: Alexander Verkhovsky, “A New Turn of the Kremlin’s Anti-Extremist Policy,” Point & Counterpoint. PONARS Eurasia, 26 April, 2019 (http://www.ponarseurasia.org/point-counter/article/new-turn-kremlins-anti-extremist-policy).

⁷⁴ Russian Federation Supreme Court Plenary Order no. 32 on Amending Russian Federation Supreme Court Plenary Order no. 11 of June 28, 2011 on Court Practice in Criminal Cases of Crimes of Extremism [in Russian], RF Supreme Court Website, September 20, 2018 (http://vsrf.ru/documents/own/27145/).

⁷⁵ “Magnitogorsk: pervyi izvestnyi nam sluchai prekrashcheniia dela po st. 20.3.1 KoAP v sviazi s maloznachitel’nost’iu [Magnitogorsk: first instance known to us of a case under Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses being closed due to insignificance],” Sova Center, August 19, 2019 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/counteraction/2019/08/d41365/).

⁷⁶ This was nearly the first decision in which the recommendations of the September plenary session were directly taken into account: “Krasnoiarskii krai: v sviazi s otsutstviem sobytiia prestupleniia prekrashcheno ugolovnoe delo po st. 282 [Krasnoyarsk Territory: due to lack of a criminal event, criminal case under Art. 282 closed],” Sova Center, October 4, 2018 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/counteraction/2018/10/d40098/).

⁷⁷ “Delo Evgeniia Korta napravleno na novoe rassmotrenie [Evgenii Kort case sent for a new review],” Sova Center, December 25, 2018 (https://www.sova-center.ru/racism-xenophobia/news/counteraction/2018/12/d40460/).

⁷⁸ Instructions of the Russian Federation General Prosecutor’s Office no. 602/27 of September 21, 2018, “On strengthening prosecutorial oversight in executing laws while uncovering, interrupting, solving, and investigating crimes of extremism,” Garant.ru, October 11, 2018 (https://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/71972118/).

⁷⁹ According to information from Damir Gainutdinov, a defense attorney and Agora’s lead expert on freedom of speech.

⁸⁰ In particular, we can note: Human Rights Council recommendations for improving anti-extremism legislation and its practical applications [in Russian], Russian Presidential Human Rights Council website, August 22, 2018 (http://www.president-sovet.ru/presscenter/news/read/4875/).

⁸¹ In parallel with this, a process began to discuss amendments connected with the ban on symbols, but this process has suffered delays, possibly due to the fact that it affects three laws simultaneously. In December 2019, amendments were made to the Law on Immortalizing the Victory of the Soviet People in the Great Fatherland War of 1941 to 1945, and to the definition of extremism in the Law on Countering Extremist Activities.

These amendments are ambivalent in effect. On the one hand, exceptions were made for situations in which “a negative attitude toward the ideology of Nazism and extremism is formed, and there are no signs of promoting or justifying Nazi and extremist ideologies.” On the other hand, “public demonstration” was replaced with “use.” It is difficult to say how this will be applied, as Art. 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses was not amended.

⁸² Information from court statistics, Judicial Department of the Supreme Court (http://www.cdep.ru/index.php?id=79).

⁸³ Per a message from Damir Gainutdinov.

⁸⁴ “Oblastnoi sud utverdil shtraf aktivistu ‘Suti vremeni’ za svastiku v publikatsii o ‘Zolotoi zare’ [Provincial court upholds fine against Essence of the Times activist for swastika in publication about Golden Dawn],” Sova Center, May 28, 2020 (https://www.sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2020/05/d42466/).