Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 15 – The number of
people charged with extremism has increased to the point that activists have now
compiled an atlas of extremist cases (tjournal.ru/74863-samye-ekstremistskie-regiony-rossii),
but the most horrific aspects of this campaign lie elsewhere: in the absence of
central control and in willingness of the authorities to link extremism with
terrorism.
Russian commentator Anton Orekh says
that “chekists and investigators need ever more cases to justify their
existence, to receive prizes, awards and ranks, and to expand rather than
contract their staffs” and they are inclined to go after those who post online
who are easier to trap than the real extremists (mbk.sobchakprotivvseh.ru/sences/modnyj-proizvol/).
As a result of the
needs of the authorities for more cases and the willingness of Russian courts
to convict those who are charged with this “crime,” he continues, a situation has
arisen in which almost anyone can find himself labelled an extremist not
because of anything he has done but because of the needs of those above him.
“The unpredictability of punishment,
the chaotic nature of this area of law, and the accidental selection of those
charged must disturb” anyone concerned about Russian life. “And it is not
accidental that these cases are acquiring the character of an epidemic” and
that “arbitrariness is becoming fashionable.”
Given the needs of the chekists, a
whole class of stukachi and provocateurs is growing up to supplement the “professional”
accusers and those citizens who are simply swept along with what they see the
authorities want and who act not on the basis of knowledge but rather on what
they think is patriotism.
“The danger in the situation,” Orekh
says, “is that it is ever more difficult to control … Chekists in the localities
organize the cases, and judges bring in the sentences. Citizens write
denunciationas and other citizens go to jail as a result. How and by what order can this be stopped?”
Slowing down or stopping this “machine”
is very difficult, the Rusisan commentator says; and “the inertia is great”
among those individuals who benefit even if the state and society at large
suffer as a result.
Oleg Kozyrev, a civic activist, points
to yet another reason why the fight against extremism is getting out of hand:
the increasing tendency of officials to link extremism with terrorism. Because
no one can be against fighting terrorism, that makes it easier to get people to
go along with charges of extremism (rosbalt.ru/posts/2018/08/14/1724657.html).
The
most shameful aspect of Russian laws and court decisions about extremism is how
often they include the terms “’… and terrorism,’” he says. No one can be
against fighting terrorists so how can anyone be against fighting those linked
to terrorism because they are “extremists.” And that makes abusing such laws
and cases all the easier.
“I will not be surprised, Kozyrev
says, “if tomorrow this clever approach spread that there will appear a federal
list of doctors and terrors, scholars and terrorists, journalists and
terrorists, politicians and terrorists, cooks and terrorists, and bakers and
terrorists.” Then people will ask anyone who objects to the persecution of those
people “what are you for the terorrists?”
All legislation must clearly separate
terrorists and extremists; otherwise as now, the authorities are able to use
the struggle with terrorists as a cover for the struggle against the freedom of
thought of the population. Indeed, there is the strong suspicion, Kozyrev
suggests, that this is exactly what is going on.
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