The Russian 2022 Laws Establishing War Censorship and Prohibiting Anti-War Statements and Calls for Sanctions is a group of federal laws, promulgated by Russian authorities during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These laws prohibit a dissemination of "unreliable information" about Russian Armed Forces, other Russian state bodies and its operations, establishing criminal punishment for such dissemination (Law No.32-FZ, Law No.63-FZ), and prohibit a "discrediting" of Russian Armed Forces, other Russian state bodies and a calls for sanctions against Russia, establishing administrative (Law No.31-FZ, Law No.62-FZ) and criminal (Law No.32-FZ, Law No.63-FZ) punishment for such actions.[1][2] These laws are further extension of Russian fake news laws. The adoption of these laws caused the mass exodus of foreign media from Russia and termination of the activity of independent Russian media.
Overview
The Federal Law of 4 March 2022 No.31-FZ (adopted by State Duma on 4 March 2022, approved by Federation Council on 4 March 2022, signed by President of Russia on 4 March 2022) supplemented the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses with articles 20.3.3 and 20.3.4.[3] The article 20.3.3 provides huge administrative fines for natural persons and juridical persons for a "discrediting" of Russian Armed Forces and its operations, including the calls for prevention of the use of Russian Armed Forces for the interests of the Russian Federation. The article 20.3.4 provides huge administrative fines for natural persons and juridical persons for a calls to impose sanctions against Russia, Russian citizens or Russian legal entities.
The Federal Law of 4 March 2022 No.32-FZ (adopted by State Duma on 4 March 2022, approved by Federation Council on 4 March 2022, signed by President of Russia on 4 March 2022) supplemented the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with articles 207.3, 280.3 and 284.2.[4] The article 207.3 provides imprisonment for up to 15 years for a dissemination of unreliable information about Russian Armed Forces and its operations.[5][6] The article 280.3 provides imprisonment for up to 5 years for a "discrediting" of Russian Armed Forces and its operations, including the calls for prevention of the use of Russian Armed Forces for the interests of the Russian Federation. The article 284.2 provides imprisonment for up to 3 years for a calls to impose sanctions against Russia, Russian citizens or Russian legal entities.
The laws No.31-FZ and No.32-FZ use so-called Dadin scheme: a first call against the use of Russian Armed Forces or the call for sanctions on Russia is punishable under the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, a second one is punishable under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A dissemination of unreliable information about Russian Armed Forces and its operations is punishable under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation only.[7] According to the reigning approach in Russian law-enforcement practice, a violations, committed through Internet publications, are considered continuing violations that allows authorities to persecute people for text published before aforementioned laws entered into force; statute of limitations will start to run after a removing a text.[8]
The Federal Laws of 25 March 2022 No.62-FZ and No.63-FZ (adopted by State Duma on 22 March 2022, approved by Federation Council on 23 March 2022, signed by President of Russia on 25 March 2022) amended the article 20.3.3 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses (Law No.62-FZ)[9] and the article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Law No.63-FZ).[10] These amendments made punishable "discrediting" of exercise of the powers, carrying out by not only Russian Armed Forces but any Russian state body (including National Guard, Federal Security Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations, General Prosecutor's Office, Investigative Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) outside Russian territory.[11][12]
Effect on media
Many Russian media outlets were forced to stop covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine because of this bill, including Colta.ru, "Snob" online magazine, Znak.com, "The Bell" online magazine, and Novaya Gazeta.[13][14][15] Dozhd said it was temporarily suspending operations due to the enactment of the aforementioned law.[16] Radio Liberty announced that it would stop working in Russia due to the new law on fakes, but would continue to cover events in Ukraine while abroad.[17] Also on the territory of the Russian Federation, Bloomberg News, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, BBC News, RTVE, EFE, RAI, TG5, ANSA stopped working.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]
According to Agentstvo, over 150 journalists left Russia by 7 March since Putin signed the bill into law.[27]
On 7 April 2022, to avoid prosecutions under the law, journalists from Novaya Gazeta announced the launch of Novaya Gazeta Europe, with its editor-in-chief, Kirill Martynov, stating that Novaya Gazeta Europe would be independent from Novaya Gazeta "both legally and in practice", with its newsroom consisting of staffers who have left Russia.[28]
Application of law
On 16 March 2022, Russian socialite and food blogger Veronika Belotserkovskaya became the first individual charged under the "fakes law".[29]
On 22 March 2022, Russian television journalist Alexander Nevzorov was charged under the law after he published information that Russian forces shelled a maternity hospital in Mariupol.[30] Nevzorov said that Vladimir Putin's "regime is not going to spare anyone, and that any attempts to comprehend the criminal war [in Ukraine] will end in prison."[31]
On 25 March 2022, Russian journalist Izabella Yevloyeva was charged under the "fakes law" after sharing a post on social media that described the "Z" symbol as being "synonymous with aggression, death, pain and shameless manipulation".[32]
On 13 April 2022, Russian journalist Mikhail Afanasyev, editor-in-chief of the online magazine Novy Fokus, was detained by police over its reporting on the war in Ukraine. He faces up to 10 years in prison.[33] Afanasyev was twice awarded with the Andrei Sakharov Prize "For Journalism as a Deed."[34]
According to OVD-Info, over 400 people were detained or fined by April under the laws prohibiting "fake" information about the military.[35]
On 22 April 2022, Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was charged by a Russian court for spreading of “false” information about the Russian military.[36] The reason for the criminal case against Kara-Murza was his March 15 speech to the Arizona House of Representatives, in which he denounced the war in Ukraine.[37]
Russian journalist Ilya Krasilshchik, the former publisher of Meduza news website, was charged by a Russian court for spreading "fake news" about the massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha.[37]
On 18 May 2022, an administrative offense case of discrediting Russian Armed Forces was filed against Soviet and Russian Rock musician Yuri Shevchuk, the leader of the rock band DDT, after he said at a concert in Ufa: "The motherland, my friends, is not the president’s ass that has to be slobbered and kissed all the time. The motherland is an impoverished old woman at the train station selling potatoes.".[38][39] The case was opened by Police Division №7 of Ufa and was sent to the court of Sovietsky district of Ufa but subsequently had been referred to the court of Dzerzhinsky district of Saint Petersburg.[40] Subsequently, the court returned the case to the Police Division №7 of Ufa due to the lack of description of committed violation in the text of the police protocol.[41]
More than 2,000 people were detained or fined by May 2022 under the laws prohibiting "fake" information about the military.[42]
The first person, convicted under the article 207.3 the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is Pyotr Mylnikov, resident of Olovyannaya, Zabaykalsky Krai, who published in the chat in Viber the documents about mobile crematoriums owned by the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. On 30 May 2022, Olovyanninsky District court found him guilty of dissemination of unreliable information about Russian Armed Forces and its operations and sentenced him to a fine of 1000000 rubles.[43]
Reaction
On 14 March 2022, Amnesty International published a statement criticizing Russian laws promulgated on 4 March 2022. Amnesty International strongly condemns the escalating attack against civil society organizations and independent media unleashed by the Russian authorities since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and urges the Russian authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations and Russia’s own Constitution to respect, protect and fulfill the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including by allowing peaceful anti-war protests to go ahead unhindered; releasing all peaceful protesters and dropping the charges against them; lifting all restrictions on independent media and overturning or amending all laws that overly and arbitrarily restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. The organization is calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with and provide support to Russian civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists who are at increased risk for expressing their opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.[44]
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that "These new laws are part of Russia’s ruthless effort to suppress all dissent and make sure the [Russian] population does not have access to any information that contradicts the Kremlin’s narrative about the invasion of Ukraine."[45]
See also
References
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