In early summer, President Dmitry Medvedev instructed Minister of Communications Igor Shchegolev to prepare proposals to amend the media law in two months. These changes are expected to define the liability of online editions for readers' comments and statements by third parties in violation of Russian legislation, including legislation on extremist activity.
At the moment this issue is increasingly debated in the North Caucasus. The head of Karachay-Cherkessia, Rashid Temrezov has talked many times about the disturbing practice of irresponsible incitement of ethnic and national hatred in today’s Internet environment.
Meanwhile, the head of the Commission on Communications, Information Policy and Freedom of Expression of Speech in the Mass Media, Pavel Gusev, believes that many online editions may ban readers from commenting, in order to decrease law violations.
Speaking about the need to change the law "On Countering Extremist Activities," the director of the Institute for Human Rights, Valentin Gefter, said that current legislation cannot cope with aggressive groups of various kinds. The law does not only fail to reduce their activities, but in some cases even facilitates its development. At the same time, many human rights activists are concerned with the unclear legal definition of extremism, which often leads to unnecessary restrictions, and sometimes to direct violations of citizens' rights and their associations. The members of the Institute for Human Rights are convinced that the struggle against extremism must begin with legally defining the term.
International law, in particular the SCO Convention, which Russia signed in 2001, clearly states that extremism is, in the first place, a violent crime. Human rights activists agree on this definition, as well as the head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Arsen Kanokov: "Extremism – is not a way of thinking, but action."
Katerina Tesemnikova. Exclusively for VK
