Calls to return Crimea to Ukraine will be a crime in the Russian Federation
Moscow - Kyiv, July 3 (Navigator, Mikhail Stamm) - It may become more difficult to speak out on the topic of the return of Crimea to Ukraine. Yesterday, the State Duma adopted in the first reading amendments to the Criminal Code (CC), which toughen penalties for calls for violating the integrity of the Russian Federation. They will be prohibited not only in the media, but also on any sites on the Internet. Experts do not rule out that several exemplary sentences may be handed down under this article.
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Yesterday, deputies adopted in the first reading a bill authored by the head of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation of the Federation Council Andrei Klishas. He proposed to tighten and expand the existing sanctions under Art. 280.1 CC. “Public appeals” will result in a fine of 100-300 thousand rubles, or arrest for four to six months, or imprisonment for up to four years with deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities for the same period. For calls for separatism using the media and the Internet (Part 2 of Article 280), Mr. Klishas proposed punishment with compulsory labor of up to 480 hours or a prison term of up to five years. Moreover, the senator eliminated the inaccuracy of the wording, which, in his opinion, allowed punishment under Part 2 of Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation only for the media. Now the norm has been extended to Internet sites.
“There is no separatism in the country,” Alexander Verkhovsky, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council, told Kommersant. “But perhaps there is a desire to rein in those who oppose the annexation of Crimea. Now, as we know, he is ours, which means calls to return him can be considered separatism.” According to the expert, “a lot of texts” have been written on this topic, and in them one can “find verbs in the imperative form that will be equated to an appeal.” After which “sentences will be passed to serve as a warning,” the expert believes.
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