For slander on a blog or social network in Russia, you can soon be put behind bars
The Russian State Duma today introduced, in its first reading, amendments to the Criminal Code article introducing liability for online libel, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
United Russia deputy Dmitry Vyatkin reminded his colleagues that in 2011 the article on libel was decriminalized, but then “a huge number of cases of violation of the constitutional rights of citizens” forced it to be returned to the Criminal Code.
“Currently, the practice of applying this article tends to zero for one single reason: the qualifying criteria are currently provided only for media that are well aware of the law and respect the criminal code. There is practically no such thing in public speaking either. All slander has moved to the Internet: blogs, social networks, websites. It is this slander that is currently virtually unpunished,” Vyatkin said.
The proposal raised objections among representatives of opposition factions.
“Every second comment about the work of deputies and officials under this law can be equated to slander. There are harsh statements there. There are not enough funnels for everyone. People write out of emotion without malicious intent,” said LDPR deputy Dmitry Pyanykh.
“When people call the United Russia party a “party of swindlers and thieves,” this is a controversial issue. They call us “ball blowers, red-bellied ones.” It is clear that slander is my white belly. Judging by the speed with which we are now passing laws, increasing punishment, do we have enough prisons? Or our next law will be on the construction of prisons. Look, let's stop. You can’t say any words at all, because it’s punishable up to imprisonment,” communist Olga Alimova said ironically.
“In four years of working as a deputy, I have not heard any complaints from any voters that he was slandered. 97-98% of Internet users are against this law. Most of your subscribers will go to jail. That all pedophiles or drug sellers on the Internet have already been caught? – asked another representative of the LDPR, Vasily Vlasov.
And the representative of A Just Russia, Oleg Nilov, recalled that online accounts are often hacked, and other methods of anonymization are also widely used.
Vyatkin urged his colleagues not to confuse slander and insults, and to think about the huge number of people who have been slandered on the Internet.
“Someone will cry in the kitchen, someone will drink. We don't know how many of these there are. . Law enforcement officers will have a wide range of sanctions, and in especially severe cases there will be imprisonment,” Vyatkin said.
Russian version :: Read in English: Slander on a blog or social media could soon lead to jail time in Russia.