AMENDMENT
APPROVED:
C.H.R. TO SUGGEST REVISION OF RULES ON EXTREMISM
The
president will
be presented a package of amendments for correcting legislation
in the
religious sphere
by
Natalia
Bashlykova
The
Council on Human
Rights (C.H.R.) under the president is calling for a substantial
correction of
antiextremism legislation. Rights advocates have prepared a
number of
amendments for clarifying the rules in the religious sphere. At
present they
are being interpreted too broadly by law enforcement agencies:
the list of
forbidden texts has already exceeded 4,400 items. As the C.H.R.
believes, the
reason for this is the so-called "Yarovaya-Ozerov Package,"
which
stiffens the punishment for terrorism and extremism. At a press
conference of
the deputy speaker of the State Duma it was assured that Irina
Yarovaya does
not have anything to do with this and Deputy Igor Zotov, who
introduced
amendments associated with religious legislation, does not
oppose their
revision. The recommendations for reform will be placed on the
president's desk.
Scope
for
restrictions
The
issues memo,
which was prepared by rights advocates, will be presented on 16
October to a
joint session of the commissions of the Council on Human Rights
and Council for
Relations with Religious Associations under the president.
Izvestiia has the
document in its possession.
The
C.H.R. considers
that it is necessary to give a clear definition of the concept
"extremist
activity" and to determine a clear interpretation of the rules
concerning
evangelism. The cause of the necessity of improving the
legislation was the
so-called "Yarovaya-Ozerov Package." In 2016, the deputy speaker
of
the State Duma, Irina Yarovaya, and also a number of deputies
and senators,
introduced amendments into laws, stiffening the penalty for
terrorism and
extremism. They included rules affecting the regulation of
religious activity.
"These
rules
open a substantial space for extreme, unreasonable, and often
explicitly
unconstitutional restrictions of the rights and liberties of
citizens,
including restrictions of freedom of conscience," the document
prepared
for the session of the councils says.
The
authors think
that because of this, the exercise of fundamental human rights,
including the
right of the nondiscriminatory treatment of religion, is
regularly subjected to
threat. The issue is the federal law "On combating extremist
activity," where its definition, the C.H.R. thinks, is
insufficiently
specific. "With regard to freedom of conscience, this vagueness
is
especially striking," the document emphasizes.
The
C.H.R. also
thinks that law enforcers interpret too broadly such terms of
article 282 of
the Criminal Code as "demeaning human dignity" and "inciting
hatred and hostility" on the basis of the attitude of citizens
toward
religion.
"The
campaign
of prohibitions has already engendered an absolutely
dysfunctional federal list
of extremist materials that exceeds 4,400 items. It includes
many religious
texts, including items forbidden without a necessary basis,
among which are
even medieval Muslim treatises," the C.H.R. underscores.
The
rights
advocates' memo notes that now persons are involved in the
expert analysis of
texts who are by no means specialists in scientific religious
studies, for
example the mathematics teacher Natalia Kriukova. To fix this
problem, in the
opinion of the authors of the amendments, a self-regulating
organization could
be created, which would certify religious studies experts on the
basis of
education, length of work experience, academic degrees, and
publications.
Fine
for evangelism
The
C.H.R. also
suggests revising the rule on missionary activity in the law "On
freedom
of conscience and religious associations." Law enforcers
perceive its
existence in practically any religious activity of citizens, who
are being
widely held administratively accountable.
As an
example, the
council cites the case of a student from Zimbabwe, Kudzai
Niamarebva, who was
fined and deported from the RF for reposting on social networks
a gospel
concert. She was supposedly thereby engaging in missionary
activity in the
religious organization "Embassy of Jesus" of the Association of
Churches of Christians of Evangelical Faith in Nizhny Novgorod
oblast.
The
C.H.R. also
thinks it necessary to correct a number of other norms of the
law "On
freedom of conscience and religious associations." In
particular, to
clarify the procedure for the full name of a religious
organization, which is
not currently prescribed. Also it is necessary to clarify
whether religious
organizations may conduct worship services in residential
premises. They
currently are being held liable for use of a parcel of land for
other than the
prescribed purpose.
Reflect
the times
A
member of the
C.H.R., attorney Vladimir Riakhovsky, who is responsible for
preparing the
joint session of the presidential councils, told Izvestiia that
back on 11
December of last year he described for Vladimir Putin the
injustice of the
application of the laws. At that time, more than 600
administrative cases
concerning representatives of various religious confessions had
been brought to
the courts.
"As
regards
your first case concerning that African student, of course you
must see some
kind of rubbish. Simply some kind of nonsense. And it is of
course necessary to
do what you suggest—to conduct an analysis of law enforcement
practice. And if
it is required, to introduce some corrections," the president
said to
Vladimir Riakhovsky at the time.
As the
rights
advocate stated, at present the problems of law enforcement
practice remain
acute and they demand revision of the legislative standards. He
said that after
this session recommendations will be worked out which will be
placed on the
president's desk.
The
head of the
C.H.R., Mikhail Fedotov, told Izvestiia that the legislation "On
freedom
of conscience and religious associations" should be more
harmonious.
"Because other spheres of our legislation have developed but the
standards
about freedom of conscience are clearly lagging. They need to be
improved so
that citizens are assured the constitutional right of freedom of
conscience," the rights advocate stressed.
As the
deputy
speaker of the State Duma, Irina Yarovaya, explained to
Izvestiia at the press
service, the deputy really did introduce the package of
amendments into the
antiextremism legislation, but she was only one of its authors.
"Irina
Anatolievna has nothing to do with the religious portion of
them. All
amendments connected with religious legislation were introduced
by Igor Zotov
(a State Duma deputy of the sixth convocation)," the press
service explained.
Igor
Zotov himself
acknowledged in conversation with Izvestiia that he participated
in developing
the antiextremism package, but he has nothing against its
reconsideration. He
said that he respects human rights. And if there exists some
overreaching,
"then it can be removed very easily by means of introducing
corrective
amendments, which should reflect the times," the author of the
amendments
noted.
In
order to prevent
overreaching, the C.H.R. recommends creating a consultative
council under the Ministry
of Science and Higher Education for issues of ecclesiastical
educational
organizations. It would not be excessive, in the opinion of
rights advocates,
if Rosobrnadzor [Federal Service of Oversight of Education]
began involving
representatives of relevant religious confessions in the conduct
of
inspections. (tr. by PDS, posted 14 October 2019)
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