The so-called "tightening of the screws" in Russia continues ­ now with two controversial laws aimed at government critics.

file photo
In December 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev pushed through his initiative to ease Russia's legislation on slander ­ making it an administrative, rather than criminal, offense.

Yet just seven months later, the ruling United Russia party is reversing Medvedev's initiative, and making slander a criminal offense again.

"Decriminalization of slander has had a bad effect," the bill's sponsor, United Russia deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov, told Moskovsky Komsomolets on Tuesday ahead of the first reading of the bill in the State Duma.

Krasheninnikov's fellow party member, Tamerlan Aguzarov, made no secret of the fact that the bill targets opposition. "Oppositionists often slander public officials," he was quoted by United Russia's press service as saying. "Clearly, liability for such acts should be increased."

Vice Speaker of the Duma Sergei Zheleznyak has repeatedly accused anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny of slandering United Russia when he began referring to it as "the party of crooks and thieves." The phrase gained mass popularity, even causing some United Russia members to begin using it humorously.

The initial draft of the slander bill suggested increasing fines for slander from the current 1,000- 3,000 rubles ($30-$90) to up to 500,000 rubles ($15,000) ­ and even envisioned sentencing a slanderer to up to five years in prison.

On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin sent a set of proposals to the Duma, asking them to remove mentions of prison sentences from the bill.

Slanderers and 'foreign agents'

Krasheninnikov then said that if imprisonment is thrown out from the bill, then fines should be increased even more. "I think the most effective measure is to punish a person financially if they do not pose a threat to society, while it's certainly understood that slander is also an act of violence, psychological violence," he told RIA Novosti.

Renowned lawyer Genri Reznik, a member of the Public Chamber, was aghast at the bill. "What is it that happened in this country that makes it necessary to return slander to the Criminal Code?" he wrote on his blog on the Chamber website. "No analytical reports, statistics or examples from judiciary practice have been presented."

The slander bill was passed in the first reading by a 242-to-144 majority on Wednesday.

Along with submitting proposals on slander legislation, Putin suggested increasing the state funding of non-profit organizations threefold on Tuesday.

This is seen as a move to reduce controversy surrounding another proposed new law ­ one that would force Russian non-profits financed from abroad to register as "foreign agents," a legal status that was used in the Soviet Union to label spies.

Legislators are planning to force such organizations to submit accounting reports twice as often as other organizations. Violators may be fined up to 1 million rubles ($30,300) or even sentenced to four years of prison.

"One of the goals of the bill is to eliminate politicized non-profits working for foreign money," political analyst and United Russia member Sergei Markov told RIA Novosti.

More money, more problems?

Putin said Tuesday that he agrees with those who think that state funding of non-profits should be increased if controls are tightened. "I believe it should be increased from 1 billion to 3 billion rubles," he said at a meeting with human rights activists.

Putin added that the new law should not be applied to religious organizations, government organizations, state-run corporations and companies, as well as their subsidiaries. This move was seen as a way of rewarding those organizations that are first and foremost loyal to the Kremlin.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki group, has lambasted the bill on non-profits. "Do they mean that bureaucrats are allowed to influence public opinion, while ordinary citizens aren't?" she was cited by RIA Novosti as saying.

Keywords: Russia, Government, Politics - Russian News - Russia

The so-called "tightening of the screws" in Russia continues ­ now with two controversial laws aimed at government critics.

file photo
In December 2011, then-President Dmitry Medvedev pushed through his initiative to ease Russia's legislation on slander ­ making it an administrative, rather than criminal, offense.

Yet just seven months later, the ruling United Russia party is reversing Medvedev's initiative, and making slander a criminal offense again.

"Decriminalization of slander has had a bad effect," the bill's sponsor, United Russia deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov, told Moskovsky Komsomolets on Tuesday ahead of the first reading of the bill in the State Duma.

Krasheninnikov's fellow party member, Tamerlan Aguzarov, made no secret of the fact that the bill targets opposition. "Oppositionists often slander public officials," he was quoted by United Russia's press service as saying. "Clearly, liability for such acts should be increased."

Vice Speaker of the Duma Sergei Zheleznyak has repeatedly accused anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny of slandering United Russia when he began referring to it as "the party of crooks and thieves." The phrase gained mass popularity, even causing some United Russia members to begin using it humorously.

The initial draft of the slander bill suggested increasing fines for slander from the current 1,000- 3,000 rubles ($30-$90) to up to 500,000 rubles ($15,000) ­ and even envisioned sentencing a slanderer to up to five years in prison.

On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin sent a set of proposals to the Duma, asking them to remove mentions of prison sentences from the bill.

Slanderers and 'foreign agents'

Krasheninnikov then said that if imprisonment is thrown out from the bill, then fines should be increased even more. "I think the most effective measure is to punish a person financially if they do not pose a threat to society, while it's certainly understood that slander is also an act of violence, psychological violence," he told RIA Novosti.

Renowned lawyer Genri Reznik, a member of the Public Chamber, was aghast at the bill. "What is it that happened in this country that makes it necessary to return slander to the Criminal Code?" he wrote on his blog on the Chamber website. "No analytical reports, statistics or examples from judiciary practice have been presented."

The slander bill was passed in the first reading by a 242-to-144 majority on Wednesday.

Along with submitting proposals on slander legislation, Putin suggested increasing the state funding of non-profit organizations threefold on Tuesday.

This is seen as a move to reduce controversy surrounding another proposed new law ­ one that would force Russian non-profits financed from abroad to register as "foreign agents," a legal status that was used in the Soviet Union to label spies.

Legislators are planning to force such organizations to submit accounting reports twice as often as other organizations. Violators may be fined up to 1 million rubles ($30,300) or even sentenced to four years of prison.

"One of the goals of the bill is to eliminate politicized non-profits working for foreign money," political analyst and United Russia member Sergei Markov told RIA Novosti.

More money, more problems?

Putin said Tuesday that he agrees with those who think that state funding of non-profits should be increased if controls are tightened. "I believe it should be increased from 1 billion to 3 billion rubles," he said at a meeting with human rights activists.

Putin added that the new law should not be applied to religious organizations, government organizations, state-run corporations and companies, as well as their subsidiaries. This move was seen as a way of rewarding those organizations that are first and foremost loyal to the Kremlin.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Moscow Helsinki group, has lambasted the bill on non-profits. "Do they mean that bureaucrats are allowed to influence public opinion, while ordinary citizens aren't?" she was cited by RIA Novosti as saying.