The State Duma adopted in the third and final reading a bill amending criminal liability in the form of a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to 5 million rubles for discredit participants in a military operation, regardless of their status, and spread falsehoods about them. On this subject said website of the lower house of parliament.
“In accordance with the amendments to the Criminal Code of Russia, the rules of liability for public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will be extended to volunteer formations, organizations or individuals who help in the performance of tasks assigned to the Armed Forces,” the State Duma website reads.
According to the new law, the penalty under Part 1 of Art. 207.3 (“Dissemination of deliberately false information on the use of the armed forces to protect the interests of the country”) and part 1 of art. 280.3 of the Criminal Code (“Discrediting the armed forces and discrediting the exercise by Russian state bodies of their powers abroad”) is increased from 3 to 5 years.
Penalties under Part 2 of Art. 280.3 of the Penal Code (“Repeated discredit leading to dangerous consequences”) are increased from 5 to 7 years in prison. The maximum prison term is 15 years and fines can be up to 5 million rubles.
In the event of an administrative violation, a fine of up to 50,000 rubles is provided. for individuals and up to 500,000 rubles. for legal persons.
“All those who today, at the risk of their lives, ensure the security of the country and its citizens, are safe from provocations and lies. Such actions are not permitted. The punishment for the wicked threatens severe – up to 15 years in prison. Thank you for your support and feedback.” writing Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma, on the telegram channel.
The State Duma clarified that criminal penalties are applied if the offender has already been brought to administrative liability for similar acts within a year.
At the end of January, Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin sent a letter to State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, in which he claimed that some media outlets, bloggers and telegram channels were engaged in “discrediting” mercenaries. He proposed to prohibit any criticism of the participants in the military operation, the publication of information about their past crimes, and also noted that the maximum penalty for violation of this law should be five years. Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Vasily Piskarev said that at the suggestion of the Chairman of the State Duma, together with his colleagues, he prepared amendments that would introduce responsibility for “discredited” volunteers taking part in hostilities. Amendments have been proposed to Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and Articles 207.3 and 208.3 of the Penal Code. On March 1, Volodin, together with a group of parliamentarians, presented the appropriate amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Violations. According to him, any public dissemination of deliberately false information, as well as public actions aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces, volunteer formations, organizations and individuals who help in the performance of the tasks assigned to the RF Armed Forces, are unacceptable.
