Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted to the State Duma a bill to mitigate punishment for crimes under Article 282 of the Criminal Code “Inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity.”
The text of the bill was published today on the official website of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
According to the bill, criminal liability will arise only if the violation is committed more than once during the year and does not pose a real threat to society and the state.
Article 282 (Incitement to hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity) was criticized by both the liberal and patriotic public. In particular, the question of its abolition was raised on a “direct line” with the president by writer and State Duma deputy Sergei Shargunov.
“I promised that something would work out. And something happened. Now debutants in extreme sports will no longer be automatically labeled as criminals. Participated in the preparation of papers that went to the president’s desk. And I was really looking forward to today. For the first time in a long time, a law will be adopted not to tighten it, but to soften it. Greetings,” Shargunov wrote in his Telegram channel.
“The next step regarding 282 should be this: sharply limit the circle of experts who can recognize the material as extremist. License them, certify them, or otherwise remove idiots from this story who recognize a post with footage of old Soviet films as Nazi propaganda. I will lobby for this wherever I can,” wrote the head of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, in her blog.