The editors at ‘Meduza’
On June 24, 2016, the State Duma
approved a series of laws spearheaded by deputy Irina Yarovaya. This legislation will
fundamentally change Russian society.
The State Duma has approved a
whole mess of major new laws, articulating at last what we should expect from
Russia's parliament. Laws can directly contradict the Constitution. Laws don't
require special consultations with experts. Laws don't demand discussion at
all—you can approve one in just a few days. Laws can be deliberately
impractical and totally irrelevant to their stated aims.
The Duma has effectively
destroyed Russia's freedom of assembly. Lawmakers have created restrictions
that allow the state to control the mass media and imprison people for reposts
on social media. The Duma has deprived hundreds of children of the chance to
escape orphanages in Russia for foster families abroad. Lawmakers have
legislated homophobia. They've declared nonprofits to be enemies.
It seemed like there wasn't
another law that could surprise anyone. On the last day before its summer
recess and Russia's parliamentary elections in September, however, the Duma
found a way.
“Yarovaya's legislation”
requires all telecom operators and many online resources to store records of
every single telephone call, all correspondence, and any messages. When you
call a customer service line, you're usually greeted by an automated voice
warning you that your call might be recorded for quality assurance. Now you can
play yourself that warning in your head, every time you pick up the phone to
talk to your parents, your friends, or your colleagues. And data encryption
won't save you: the new legislation bans the use of any encryption that the
Federal Security Service can't crack.
The main takeaway from
“Yarovaya's legislation” is that the authorities have declared every last
citizen in Russia to be a criminal suspect.
The laws expand the
criminal liability of adolescents over fourteen, too, raising from 22 to 32 the
number of criminal-code articles for which they can be prosecuted. Courts will
even be able to send teenagers to prison for failing to report certain crimes.
There's a list of those crimes in the legislation, but who's going to read
it?
Basically, the authorities are
asking suspects to report themselves, and they're trying to cultivate this
readiness in Russians from an early age. Both children and adults are being
told: you're either an investigator or a criminal; there is no third
option.
The Duma spent just minutes
debating the second and third readings of today's legislation. Communist deputy
Yuri Sinelshchikov complained helplessly from the podium that he only managed
to get a copy of the laws earlier that morning, and the night before he had to
rely on journalists to learn about last-minute revisions. Thinking back to
five years ago, Sinelshchikov said it was hard to believe that lawmakers
would ever be in such a hurry to approve legislation so monumental.
But should we really
share Sinelshchikov's surprise? Five years ago, Russia held
parliamentary elections marred by too many violations to count. The authorities
responded to citizens' attempts to speak out against dishonest elections
by introducing strict new prohibitions, launching criminal
investigations, and handing down harsh prison sentences. On its
last day before the next elections, does it make sense to expect
anything different from a Duma that started off by breaking so many laws?
Yes, today Russia's
lawlessness has finally become law. Yes, tomorrow we'll wake up in a different
country. These phrases are used too often to describe what is happening in
Russia. But, for once, it's the truth.
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