Repressions Report. September 2023
Chechen warlord’s son brutalises a prisoner on camera. New detentions for donating to Navalny and election interference — here’s the key political repression news for September.
The Article on «Insulting Religious Feelings»
One of the most high-profile events of September was the release of a video showing the son of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Adam, assaulting Nikita Zhuravel. Zhuravel is a Volgograd resident who has been in pre-trial detention since May for burning the Koran. Shortly after his detention, the Investigation Committee transferred Zhuravel’s case to Chechnya, referring to «numerous appeals from residents of the Chechen Republic with a request to recognize them as victims.» Initially, the case was brought under the article on insulting religious feelings (Article 148 of the Criminal Code), but when the case came to court, it became known that the young man was also charged with the article on hooliganism motivated by religious hatred (Part 2, Article 213 of the Criminal Code).
In August 2012, Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich were convicted under the same article — part 2 of article 213 of the Criminal Code. The reason was a «punk moleben» (supplicatory prayer) «Mother Mary, Drive Putin Away!», which the girls held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (a major cathedral in Moscow). After that, the legislators amended the 148th article of the Criminal Code: if earlier it referred to the liability for «violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion», since 2013 it started to include criminal punishment for «insulting the religious feelings of believers».
Human rights activists from the Sova Research Center have repeatedly noted that the concept of «insulting the religious feelings of believers» does not (and cannot) have a clear legal meaning. It is possible to face prosecution under it because of »negative comments» about representatives of certain confessions, explicit photos in front of churches or memes on religious topics.
Prosecutions due to Anti-War Stance
The staff of the pre-trial detention centre, where Kaliningrad activist Igor Baryshnikov, sentenced to seven and a half years in a penal colony, is being held, are endangering his life. His lawyer from OVD-Info Maria Bontsler launched the argument for Igor’s release due to his health.
Igor Baryshnikov may not live to see the appeal against his sentence, which was postponed to mid-October, because of his severe cancer. OVD-Info launched an appeals campaign to the prosecutor of Kaliningrad region with a demand to replace the activist’s sentence with a non-custodial one.
MP Alexei Gorinov, sentenced to almost seven years in prison due to his anti-war views, was sent to a punishment cell (SHIZO) three times. The third time happened after he was not on time for morning exercises (from which he had previously been excused on medical grounds). In October, Alexei was transferred to a prison hospital.
The condition of 17-year-old Yegor Balazeikin, who is accused of setting fire to two military recruitment centres, continues to deteriorate in the pre-trial detention centre. The teenager’s liver fibrosis is progressing, his eyesight is deteriorating, and his legs have started to fester due to the lack of adequate medical care.
OVD-Info maintains a regularly updated infographic on people facing criminal prosecution due to their anti-war position. You can find out how anti-war repression developed from 22 August to 21 September this year in our Anti-War Repression Movement Report.
Repressive Lawmaking
The Ministry of Justice continues its attempts to «improve» the legislation on «foreign agents». In September, the Ministry proposed that the pseudonyms of individuals and their former full names should be recorded in the relevant register. The same rule is proposed for legal entities that have changed their names.
Deputies and senators, for their part, want the articles on «fake facts» and «discrediting'' the army to also protect from criticism the members of the Rosgvardiya: a corresponding document has been submitted to the lower house of Parliament. Additionally, it is proposed to mention Rosgvardia in a new article 284.3 of the Criminal Code, concerning the prohibition of aiding the enforcement of decisions from foreign authorities, or international authorities of which Russia is not a member.
The State Duma has also managed to pass a bill in the first reading to expand the article on calls to extremism. The authors of the document propose to introduce criminal liability now also «for the propaganda of extremism and its justification». At the same time, the concept of «extremist ideology», which the deputies propose to use, is not defined by law.
«Foreign Agents» And «Undesirable Organisations»
«Foreign Agents»
The Article on «Insulting Religious Feelings»
One of the most high-profile events of September was the release of a video showing the son of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Adam, assaulting Nikita Zhuravel. Zhuravel is a Volgograd resident who has been in pre-trial detention since May for burning the Koran. Shortly after his detention, the Investigation Committee transferred Zhuravel’s case to Chechnya, referring to «numerous appeals from residents of the Chechen Republic with a request to recognize them as victims.» Initially, the case was brought under the article on insulting religious feelings (Article 148 of the Criminal Code), but when the case came to court, it became known that the young man was also charged with the article on hooliganism motivated by religious hatred (Part 2, Article 213 of the Criminal Code).
In August 2012, Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich were convicted under the same article — part 2 of article 213 of the Criminal Code. The reason was a «punk moleben» (supplicatory prayer) «Mother Mary, Drive Putin Away!», which the girls held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (a major cathedral in Moscow). After that, the legislators amended the 148th article of the Criminal Code: if earlier it referred to the liability for «violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religion», since 2013 it started to include criminal punishment for «insulting the religious feelings of believers».
Human rights activists from the Sova Research Center have repeatedly noted that the concept of «insulting the religious feelings of believers» does not (and cannot) have a clear legal meaning. It is possible to face prosecution under it because of »negative comments» about representatives of certain confessions, explicit photos in front of churches or memes on religious topics.
Prosecutions due to Anti-War Stance
The staff of the pre-trial detention centre, where Kaliningrad activist Igor Baryshnikov, sentenced to seven and a half years in a penal colony, is being held, are endangering his life. His lawyer from OVD-Info Maria Bontsler launched the argument for Igor’s release due to his health.
Igor Baryshnikov may not live to see the appeal against his sentence, which was postponed to mid-October, because of his severe cancer. OVD-Info launched an appeals campaign to the prosecutor of Kaliningrad region with a demand to replace the activist’s sentence with a non-custodial one.
MP Alexei Gorinov, sentenced to almost seven years in prison due to his anti-war views, was sent to a punishment cell (SHIZO) three times. The third time happened after he was not on time for morning exercises (from which he had previously been excused on medical grounds). In October, Alexei was transferred to a prison hospital.
The condition of 17-year-old Yegor Balazeikin, who is accused of setting fire to two military recruitment centres, continues to deteriorate in the pre-trial detention centre. The teenager’s liver fibrosis is progressing, his eyesight is deteriorating, and his legs have started to fester due to the lack of adequate medical care.
OVD-Info maintains a regularly updated infographic on people facing criminal prosecution due to their anti-war position. You can find out how anti-war repression developed from 22 August to 21 September this year in our Anti-War Repression Movement Report.
Repressive Lawmaking
The Ministry of Justice continues its attempts to «improve» the legislation on «foreign agents». In September, the Ministry proposed that the pseudonyms of individuals and their former full names should be recorded in the relevant register. The same rule is proposed for legal entities that have changed their names.
Deputies and senators, for their part, want the articles on «fake facts» and «discrediting'' the army to also protect from criticism the members of the Rosgvardiya: a corresponding document has been submitted to the lower house of Parliament. Additionally, it is proposed to mention Rosgvardia in a new article 284.3 of the Criminal Code, concerning the prohibition of aiding the enforcement of decisions from foreign authorities, or international authorities of which Russia is not a member.
The State Duma has also managed to pass a bill in the first reading to expand the article on calls to extremism. The authors of the document propose to introduce criminal liability now also «for the propaganda of extremism and its justification». At the same time, the concept of «extremist ideology», which the deputies propose to use, is not defined by law.
«Foreign Agents» And «Undesirable Organisations»
«Foreign Agents»