BILL TO BAN RULING SACRED BOOKS EXTREMIST INTRODUCED INTO STATE DUMA
Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced into the State Duma a draft law forbidding ruling the contents of the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur and quotations from them to be extremist materials.
Previously a judge of a South Sakhalinsk court, on the basis of a lawsuit by the prosecutor, ruled the book Prayer to God: its Significance and Place in Islam to be "extremist material." The grounds for this were several suras (chapters) and excerpts from the Quran quoted in the book. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, urged holding the judge who made such a decision and the prosecutor accountable, and a deputy of the State Duma, Shamsail Saraliev (United Russia), sent inquiries to Russian law enforcement agencies with a request to verify the chain of people who were involved in the court's making such a decision.
"The Bible, Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur, their contents, and quotations from them cannot be ruled to be extremist materials," the text of the draft law says, which introduced amendments into the law on combating extremist activity.
An explanatory note to the draft law states that article 28 of the constitution of the Russian federation declares that every person is guaranteed freedom of conscience and freedom of religious confession, including the right to profess individually and jointly with others any religion or not to profess any.
In developing this provision of the constitution in the RF, the law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations" was adopted. From the preamble of said law it follows that specifically Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism constitute an inseparable part of the historical heritage of the peoples of Russia.
"In light of the foregoing and it order to guarantee equal respect to traditional world religions, the draft law proposes to establish that the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur, which constitute the spiritual basis of the named religions, and their contents and quotations from them cannot be ruled to be extremist materials," the explanatory note says.
The concept of the draft law was cleared with
representatives of the respective centralized religious
organizations of Russia, the explanatory note mentions. (tr. by
PDS, posted 14 October 2015)
PUTIN INTRODUCES
INTO DUMA BILL TO BAN FINDING BIBLE, QURAN, TANAKH, KANGYUR
AND QUOTATIONS FROM
THEM EXTREMIST MATERIALS
Interfax-Religiia,
14
October 2015
Russian
President Vladimir Putin introduced into the State Duma a
draft of a federal
law "On introducing amendments into the federal law 'On
combating
extremist activity.'"
According to the
document, located in the data base of the State Duma, said
federal law will be
supplemented by an article of the following contents:
"Article
3.1. Specifics of the application with regard to religious
texts of legislation
of the Russian federation concerning combating extremist
activity.
"The Bible,
Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur, their contents, and quotations
from them cannot be
ruled to be extremist materials."
It is proposed
that this federal law will take effect on the day of its
official publication.
An explanatory
note to the presidential amendment states that article 28 of
the constitution
of the RF guarantees to each person freedom of conscience and
freedom of
religious confession, including the right to profess
individually or jointly
with others any religion or not to profess any.
In developing
this provision of the constitution in the RF, the law "On
freedom of
conscience and religious associations" was adopted. According
to article 2
of this document, laws and other normative legal acts applied
in the RF and
affecting the exercise of the right to freedom of conscience
and freedom of
religious confession, as well as the activity of religious
associations, must
comply with this law.
From the
preamble of the law "On freedom of conscience and religious
associations" it follows that specifically Christianity,
Islam, Judaism,
and Buddhism constitute an inseparable part of the historical
heritage of the
peoples of Russia.
"In light
of the foregoing and it order to guarantee equal respect to
traditional world
religions, the draft law proposes to establish that the Bible,
Quran, Tanakh,
and Kangyur, which constitute the spiritual basis of the named
religions, and
their contents and quotations from them cannot be ruled to be
extremist
materials," the document emphasizes.
It is noted that
the concept of the draft law was cleared with representatives
of the respective
centralized religious organizations of Russia.
"The
adoption of the federal law 'On introducing amendments into
the federal law
"On combating extremist activity'" does not require additional
budgetary allocation from the federal budget," the document
says.
As reported, a
judge of the South Sakhalinsk city court, Natalia Perchenko,
ruled on 12 August
with regard to a lawsuit of Prosecutor Bilobrovets that the
book Prayer to God:
its Significance and Place in Islam is extremist material. The basis for this was
"Al-Fatiha" and other suras
of the Quran. In particular, quotations from the Quran were
found to be
extremist: "It is you we worship and to you we pray for help"
(Al-Fatiha, sura 1, ayah [verse] 5), "Do not invoke anyone
along with
Allah" (Al-Jinn, sura 72, ayah 18).
In
connection with this, the head of
Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, posted a note on Instagram calling
the judge a
traitor and he also reported that he had ordered the
preparation of an
appellate request to cancel this decision. Later R. Kadyrov
urged deputies of
the State Duma to forbid legislatively courts to make
decisions pertaining to
texts of the Quran and other sacred scriptures.
On 21
September, a deputy from the
Chechen republic, Shamsaid Saraliev, introduced into the State
Duma a draft law
according to which sacred texts may not be found to be
extremist. "Texts
of Sacred Scriptures,
religious books of world (including Abrahamic) religions), are
not recognized
to be extremist materials." The lawmaker proposed introducing
such a rule
into the law "On combating extremist activity." (tr. by PDS,
posted
14 October 2015)
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