{"id":28078,"date":"2024-07-21T12:08:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T16:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=28078"},"modified":"2024-07-21T12:08:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T16:08:44","slug":"fined-for-yellow-and-blue-shoes-how-russian-laws-smother-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/07\/21\/fined-for-yellow-and-blue-shoes-how-russian-laws-smother-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Fined for yellow and blue shoes: How Russian laws smother dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dissent is not tolerated in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.<\/b><\/p>\n

For years Kremlin critics have faced a host of laws which could be used against them, and since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that toolbox of measures has swelled in size.<\/p>\n

The laws target basic rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly – even though they are enshrined in Russia’s constitution.<\/p>\n

The repressive nature of the punishments, often disproportionate to the offence, harks back to the methods of the old Soviet Union.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Spreading ‘false information’<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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The law used most widely against critics of the war in Ukraine is the criminal offence of spreading “deliberately false information” about the Russian army.<\/p>\n

It was rushed through parliament shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “urgently needed because of the absolutely unprecedented information war waged against our country”.<\/p>\n

According to prominent Russian human rights group OVD-Info, more than 300 people have since been charged or convicted under it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Russian<\/picture><\/span>Ilya Yashin was jailed for eight and a half years for spreading “false information” (Image: Alexander Nemenov\/AFP)<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Even though the law mentions “false” information, it has been used against people who highlight crimes that are well-documented but denied by Russia.<\/p>\n

Ilya Yashin<\/b>\u00a0is one of the most high-profile critics of the war to be convicted under this law. The former head of a Moscow disctrict council was given eight and half years in jail for a live stream on YouTube in which he urged an investigation into the murder of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.<\/p>\n

In April 2023, prominent opposition activist\u00a0Vladimir Kara-Murza<\/b>\u00a0was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges of treason and spreading “false information” about the Russian army.<\/p>\n

His case was partly based on a speech in which he accused Russian troops in Ukraine of committing war crimes by using cluster bombs in residential areas and bombing maternity hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Jailed<\/picture><\/span><\/div>
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Dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for 25 years on various charges including spreading false information about the army (Image: Alexander Nemenov\/AFP)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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The law has also been applied to Russians with far smaller public profiles.<\/p>\n

Russian-language tutor\u00a0Raisa Boldova<\/b>, 61, was handed a suspended one-year community service sentence for posting critical comments about attacks on civilians in Ukraine, including the bombing of the Mariupol maternity hospital.<\/p>\n

In an echo of a chilling Soviet practice of confining dissidents to mental hospitals, the court also ordered her to undergo a compulsory psychiatric evaluation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Discrediting’ the Russian army<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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\"A<\/picture><\/span><\/div>
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A man is led away bearing a piece of paper with eight asterisks<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Another recent law penalises “discrediting” the Russian army, and it has been applied to a broad variety of actions interpreted either as support for Ukraine or criticism of the war. (Image: Sotavision)<\/p>\n

These include:<\/p>\n

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