Thousands of Russian anti-war protesters arrested: What are the freedom of speech laws in Russia? – USA TODAY

Anti-War rally in St. Petersburg, Russia leads to detainments

At least one person was detained by police in St Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday, February 27, during a protest march against Russias invasion of Ukraine, video shows.

Lev Krylenkov via Storyful, Lev Krylenkov via Storyful

Russias invasion of Ukraine sparked protests around the globe, including in Russia where cities have become flooded with angry citizens who denounce President Vladimir Putins decision to go to war.

But unlike in other countries, thousands of Russians have been plucked from the street by police.

Russias constitution guarantees freedom of ideas and speech. Despite this, there seems to be one inevitability for Russian citizens who choose to loudly express their grievances on the streets. Jail.

So why is the image of Russian policehauling away protestors such a recurring one?

Does Russia have freedom of speech?

The constitution guarantees freedom of speech for its citizens, but a patchwork of laws in the countrys criminal and administrative codes severely limit the publics right to assembly and engage in certain kinds of speech, especially political speech critical of the Kremlin.

Russian media reported that hundreds of anti-war protesters in Moscow last week were charged with several infractions of the Russian administrative code, which includes offenses like participation in an unsanctioned rallyapplication for a special permit is required to hold large demonstrationsand petty hooliganism. The Russian codes definition of petty hooliganism includes open disrespect of the public accompanied by foul language in public places.

The Russian criminal code similarly outlines a provision on hooliganism that carries a much heavier punishment. In 2012, members of the Pussy Riot, a feminist punk rock group known for its provocative art, were sentenced to two years on a hooliganism charge afterfacing a potential maximum seven-year sentence.

More laws that give the government broad discretion in cracking down on speech include:

An article in the criminal code prohibits public insult of a representative of authority in the performance of his official duties or in connection with their performance.

Another article that prohibits public calls for extremist activity, a definition that includes forcible change in the foundations of the constitutional system and (or) violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.

In Putins Russia, being a political dissident has proven a dangerous enterprise. Several prominent Putin critics have wound up dead over the years, including Boris Nemstov, a Russian politician who was assassinated in 2015 shortly after he called for protests against Russias involvement in Ukraine.

The Kremlin's most famous critic today,an outspoken Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, nearly died after being poisoned by a nerve agent in 2020. He currently sits in jail for violating his parole on a 2014 fraud charge when he returned to Russia after leaving the country to receive treatment for the poisoning.

His arrest last year sparked mass protests in Russia that led to the arrests of thousands. He says the Russian government is behind the attempt on his life, but the Kremlin has denied the claim.

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The Russian constitution guarantees freedom of the press, but Russia has in recent years passed legislation aimed at suppressing and discrediting independent media organizations.

One law brands groups and individuals foreign agents if they receive any funding from outside the country. It initially applied to nonprofits and independent news organizations in the country, but in 2019 it expanded it to individual bloggers and reporters.

This law subjects any media with foreign funding to burdensome reporting requirements and registration as a foreign agent. The Kremlin, which owns its own large state media organizations, has labeled more than 90 independent media entities and journalists foreign agents, according to Human Rights Watch.

Shortly after Putin greenlit the invasion of Ukraine, a prominent Russian TV journalist spoke against the war. His show subsequently pulled from the air and did not appear at its regularly scheduled time.

The European Union voted to ban Russian state-owned media like Russia Today and Sputnik, contending that they have spread disinformation andhelped justify Putin's decision to wage war.

And Russia has a notorious record against journalists who do work critical of the Kremlin. Last year, a Russian journalist was jailed for 25 days for a joke retweet authorities determined called for an illegal protest. Fourteen journalists have been imprisoned and 58 killed in Russia since the formation of the Russian Federation, according to the Commission to Protect Journalists.

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The Russian government has taken steps to increase its control of the internet in the last decade. In 2012, its parliament passed a law requiring internet service providers to block access to websites on a government-maintained blacklist. In 2019, it further tightened its clasp on the internet by mandating that internet providers install software that enables the government to restrict content without the providers knowledge.

During protests last year following Navalnys arrest, the Russian government moved to take down thousands of illegal tweets after Twitter failed to comply with the government's request to block the posts themselves, the New York Times reported. Russia has moved to restrict access to Facebook as Meta, Facebooks parent company, opted to block content from several Russian sites, including state run media, citing disinformation.

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Sentences vary depending on the charges against a protester. Some chargecarry a punishment of 15 days in jail or a period of correctional labor. The charge of hooliganism carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

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Thousands of Russian anti-war protesters arrested: What are the freedom of speech laws in Russia? - USA TODAY