OSCE Representative notes Russian Supreme Court resolution to improve judicial practice around online extremist content, urges legislative reform

VIENNA, 26 September 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today said he had taken note of the resolution by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which aims at improving judicial practice in cases of alleged online extremist content.

At its plenary session on 20 September 2018, the Supreme Court introduced amendments complementing its own Decree “On Judicial Practice in Criminal Cases on Crimes of an Extremist Nature” of June 2011. The amendments suggest to the courts to carefully distinguish between crimes of extremist nature and publicly harmless offences. The Supreme Court also underlined that restrictions must be based on narrowly-defined evidence, while simple posting or re-posting of online content, including content that may contain signs of criminal activity but has no direct intent and/or purpose of inciting hatred or enmity, should not be qualified as extremism.

“This decision goes in the right direction and will, hopefully, prevent citizens of the Russian Federation from being unduly prosecuted,” Désir said. “This is why I call on the authorities to continue further on this path and follow the recommendations made by the Presidential Council on the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights regarding the improvement of legislation on countering extremism and the practice of its application. Any restrictions on expression must be carefully applied and based on legality, necessity and the legitimacy of the objective.”

Earlier, on a number of occasions, the Representative has raised his concern with the authorities regarding the problematic trend noted by his Office in recent years of disproportionate responses to online expressions in the country on the basis of countering extremism.

“While fully respecting the need to address security concerns in the OSCE region, I would like to reiterate my call on the authorities to reform the legislation on countering extremism and ensure that the need to protect public safety and order do not conflict with the fundamental human right to freedom of expression,” Désir said.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. He provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom.