Deputies against publicity of crimes

Deputies consider it necessary to introduce tougher punishment for committing a crime and posting a video on the Internet. The legislations of the deputies of the parliamentary Committee on Legislation, Protection of Citizens' Rights and Freedoms passed the first reading.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee Oleg Petrik spoke on behalf of the group of authors. The deputy emphasized the main goal of the amendments being introduced – to protect minors from harmful influences. Footage of violence and cruelty, mainly of teenagers, ends up on the Internet. Beatings and bullying are shown. Footage of humiliation of a person often drives to suicide.

In addition to improving the Criminal Code, deputies initiated amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses. Article 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (abuse of freedom of the mass media) will be supplemented by Part 3, which introduces a separate offense for disseminating information on the Internet that insults human dignity, as well as containing images of actions with signs of a crime, if these actions do not contain signs of a criminal offense, co-author Oleg Petrik told deputies.

According to the law-in-draft, the fine for disseminating harmful information for citizens will be from 200 to 250 minimum wages (3680 - 4600 rubles), for officials - from 250 to 300 minimum wages (4600 - 5520 rubles), and for legal entities - from 350 to 450 minimum wages (6440 - 8280 rubles).

Access to resources where footage of cruelty and violence is distributed should be limited, the authors of the legislations consider. Amendments have been proposed to this end to the laws "On the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development" and "On Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information". Information that:

- offends human dignity and public morality;

- expresses obvious disrespect for society;

- contains actions with signs of illegality, including violence;

- is distributed for hooligan, selfish or other base motives.

The Vice Speaker of the Parliament, Chairperson of the Committee on Legislation, Protection of Citizens' Rights and Freedoms Galina Antyufeeva noted after the presentation of the legislations that these initiatives were supported at the Committee meeting.

The legislations against the distribution of violent and cruel images on the Internet were adopted at the plenary session in the first reading. The relevant committee will continue to work on them in preparation for the second reading. Russian legislation has included provisions that recognize the commission of a deliberate crime with a public demonstration on social networks as an aggravating circumstance since last summer. Trash streams are prohibited in the Russian Federation at the legal level and fines have been introduced for the illegal distribution of photos and videos on the Internet demonstrating cruelty and for calls to commit them.