In October 2022, 1,051 people were detained in Russia for speaking out against the conduct of a special operation in Ukraine; this is somewhat less than in September, but much more than in the summer months, according to the online publication RE-RUSSIA, citing Russian human rights centers. This wave was provoked by the “partial mobilization” announced on September 21, and the detentions mainly took place in the decade following this date. In total, according to human rights activists, since February 24, 19,347 people have been detained in Russia.
According to the results of October, 355 people are defendants in criminal cases under various articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In September there were 282 of them, that is, the increase was 25%; and in September the increase was the same in relation to August. In total, the increase in open criminal cases for two autumn months amounted to 60% compared to August figures. For the first time in October, a criminal case was opened under a new article on confidential cooperation with foreigners adopted in July (Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code), as well as a new case under the “Dadi” article on repeated violations of the procedure for holding public events (Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code). ), - the defendant of which was the Ivanovo activist Olga N.
According to the Pravosudie GAS system, since the beginning of March, Russian courts have registered about 4,800 cases under the article on discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation). As follows from the analysis of these statistics conducted by RBC, Moscow became the leader in the number of cases (632 cases), followed by St. Petersburg (247), Krasnodar Territory (164), Crimea (140), Kaliningrad Region (123) and Perm region (82). Least of all cases were brought in the Omsk region (8), Tyva (4) and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (1). Of the 3406 cases in the courts of first instance, 2538 ended in fines, 138 cases were dismissed, another 305 were returned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs due to violations in the execution of protocols. Most often, the courts handed down fines from 30 to 100 thousand rubles, in total, only from March to June, the total amount of fines amounted to 85.7 million rubles. The application profile of the article on defamation has also changed somewhat: if earlier they were fined for public actions (for example, for single pickets), then recently they began to prosecute for posts on social networks.
Six new initiatives were submitted to the State Duma in October, including amendments expanding the use of administrative and criminal penalties for “unauthorized entry into protected facilities”, amendments allowing the mobilization of citizens with an outstanding conviction for a serious crime, and amendments toughening liability for "materials promoting non-traditional sexual relations and/or preferences."
In addition, during the reporting month (from September 24 to October 24), the Ministry of Justice entered 30 people and two organizations into the registers of “foreign agents”, which amounted to a quarter of all those who received the status of “foreign agent” since the beginning of the war. In other words, we are seeing an increase in the use of this tool; in parallel, the Duma approved the next amendments to the laws on "foreign agency", expanding the possibilities of their application.
“Since the beginning of the SVO, we have known about 30 students who were expelled in connection with the anti-war position. Among them are 17 students of the Islamic University in Chechnya, who refused to participate in the rally in support of the "referenda" on the annexation of the territories of Ukraine to Russia, ”writes RBC .
The authorities continue to block access to independent resources at a Stakhanovite pace. In October alone, about 20,000 links were blocked.