Penza, 8 June 2012. PenzaNews. The representatives of the public of the city of Penza are discussing the draft law “On introduction of changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation” and the Federal Law “On assemblies, rallies, demonstrations, processions and pickets” adopted by the State Duma on final reading. At present, the law has been approved by the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin for approval.

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As Georgy Kamnev, a deputy of the Regional Legislative Assembly representing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, noted, Penza communists support their party fraction in the State Duma and do not endorse this law.

“We think there are no grounds for such significant raises in fines. So in this situation this is certainly the government’s response to the events taking place in Moscow. This will only add fuel to the conflict and will not tackle any problem,” Georgy Kamnev told news agency “PenzaNews.”

According to the deputy, there are many other, more serious issues in the country which should be addressed but the authorities have spent “so much time to protect and preserve themselves when it is necessary to protect and preserve the people.”

Georgy Kamnev noted that the plans of the Penza communists with respect to the organization of future mass events did not change in conjunction with the adoption of the law providing for significant fines for the violation of rules on the conduct of rallies.

According to President of Penza Public Foundation “AntiSPID” Sergey Oleynik, the draft law violates the constitutional right of citizens to peaceful assembly.

“In accordance with the Constitution we have the right to organize assemblies and express our opinions; nobody has prohibited that. However, the principle of equality before the law as well as the principle prohibiting double jeopardy are violated since the authors of the amendments to the law introduce additional administrative liability besides civil liability,” Sergey Oleynik stated.

“I also consider it absurd that the draft law deprives citizens of the right to hold peaceful assemblies without governmental consent outside the specially allocated areas,” Sergey Oleynik added.

Head of the Penza regional department of the Association of Lawyers of Russia Gleb Sintsov noted that only those “who planned to act not quite within the limits of the law when participating in these street demonstrations” feared the adoption of this draft law.

“Law-abiding citizens undoubtedly have nothing to fear. The law is first to ensure safety not only for those who participate in rallies but also for those who are in the streets at that time. You know what often happens during such rallies: everyone is put under pressure fellow protesters, opponents, simply passersby who happen to walk in the street with their children and find themselves caught in the middle of the demonstration. Unfortunately, I attended a couple of such events when I myself became a victim to some extent after receiving a blow to my head,” Gleb Sintsov said.

In his opinion, acts committed by the crowd guided by a skilled agitator sometimes have nothing to do with the rally.

“These are often plain disturbances, pogroms, and beatings. So I am pleased to know that many lawyers view the law from the security standpoint,” Gleb Sintsov explained.

He stated that the newly adopted law is specific and clear enough from the perspective of European law.

“In many respects it complies with the European laws. As for the fines, they are appropriate enough, but are somewhat new for Russian legal practice. We are used to calculating damages differently: if you break the shop window then you pay. But here we are concerned with human behavior. We will no longer have the same situations as in the past when somebody beat someone or broke something but was not held responsible. Now everything is organized according to the principle “the war will write off everything”, and it is good to see that there are more and more draft laws that clearly determine the guilty ones and their specific guilt for something,” head of Penza Regional Department of the Association of Lawyers of Russia concluded.

The deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation from the Penza region Nikolay Makarov stated that the strengthening of administrative liability for the violation of public order is an objective necessity.

“At present, the legislation of the Russian Federation on assemblies, rallies, demonstrations, processions and pickets is primarily aimed at the protection of the rights and interests of organizers and participants of public events. To a smaller degree it envisages the application of preventive measures and sanctions to the organizers of public events. The law should clearly specify the rule requiring everyone to respect and observe the legal interests of citizens who experience any difficulties because of mass public events as they cannot move freely in public places, rest, or walk wherever they want,” the deputy of the State Duma said.

In his opinion, the current administrative fines for the violation of procedures for the organization and conduct of assemblies, rallies, demonstrations, processions, and pickets established under the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation fail to meet moral and material damage sustained by the citizens.

“At the same time, Western laws differ from the Russian law in that they set more specific and stricter requirements for the conduct of demonstrations and processions than those set under the Russian law. Legal systems of all developed democracies in the world impose criminal responsibility on citizens for abusing the right to freedom of assembly, including fines and deprivation of liberty,” Nikolay Makarov concluded.

In the meantime, the working group of the Presidential Council for Human Rights concluded that the new law on rallies contradicts the Constitution.

According to the experts, “Article 31 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides without any reservations that citizens have the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons and to hold assemblies, rallies, demonstrations, processions, and pickets. This by definition obstructs the movement of pedestrians and transport and requires additional efforts and resources of the police, even if the participants of public events behave peacefully enough. The main flaw of the law is that it basically envisages the criminalization of the procedure for the realization of the basic constitutional right – the right to assemble peacefully”, the expert opinion published on the official website of the Presidential Council for Human Rights on Friday, June 8, states.

The document notes that criminal penalties are established for committing acts which are not properly defined in the provisions of the law.

Head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov told Interfax that he hopes that President Vladimir Putin will react to the expert opinion of the working group of the Council regarding the law toughening penalties for violations committed during public assemblies.

As Mikhail Fedotov said, he will present the original of the document to the President at the earliest opportunity.

As was reported earlier, the adopted law imposes fines on individuals for violations during public assemblies of up to 300 000 rubles or 200 hours of community service. Officials face fines amounting to 600 000 rubles, and legal entities — 1 million rubles.

A penalty for organizing unauthorized mass events disguised as mass gatherings of people, i.e. so-called “open-air celebrations”, has been introduced. It applies to cases where the public event resulted in the violation of public order and sanitary rules; damage to public utility facilities, communication systems and urban vegetation; or obstruction of the movement of pedestrians or transport. These violations are subject to fines of 10 000-20 000 rubles or community service of 50 hours; fines of 50 000-100 000 rubles for state officials; and fines of 200 000-300 000 rubles for legal entities.