Forbidden to dream of Zelensky and write Putin with a small “p”: Moscow’s most surreal sentences to repress dissent – Il Fatto Quotidiano

Throughout 2022, the Russia has been busy fighting against naysayers of the war and the regime in power. From the beginning of the invasionthe authorities of Fly passed a record number of laws: more than 650. Most of them restrict i citizens’ rights (such as the ban on propaganda LGBT or the prohibition of maternity surrogate for men single), but others are openly repressive. The most striking examples are the laws on “discrediting the Russian army” and “fake news on the special military operation”, whose violation carries heavy fines or many years in prison. They are often prosecuted under these articles activistsjournalists and politiciansbut more than half of the accused they are ordinary people. In total, more than 5,000 have been started since February 24 administrative proceedings and 378 people are under criminal proceedings for having committed acts against the war waged by Putin in Ukraine. According to the social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipovathis year in Russia come on for the first time times soviets they began to punish for the opinion. Here we tell the most cases crazy in which the Russians were punished for writing the surname of Putin with a tinyfor listening to the wrong music at home or disliking dried fish.

Dream Zelensky – One of the most frequent reasons for fines has become the famous “discrediting of the Russian army”. For example, at Altaia local deputy was fined 30 thousand rubles (under this article) for anti-war statements. But exactly the same fine was imposed on a Barnaul philosophy teacher, who put a sad emoticon under this news: the court considered that such public sympathy, in turn, discredits the Russian military. In general, it seems easy enough to discredit him. For example, it turns out that an entrepreneur from Ivanovo handing out the dystopian book “1984” by George Orwell. And also a married couple discussing war in the canteen of the sanatorium at Kabardino-Balkaria. And a man of Transbaikalia who described his dream on Vladimir Zelensky in a post about Instagram. All these people have received administrative sanctions.

Fakes on Bucha – The second “favorite” article of the Russian law enforcement agencies it concerns the “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the Russian military” which often turns into a criminal case. For example, a resident of Primoryewho posted a video of the destruction in the Donbass and about the losses of Russian troops in the chat of Whatsapp with 230 people, he was sentenced to community work. TO Lipetska 60-year-old builder faces criminal charges for an anti-war post on his personal blog (39 subscribers), where he writes the name of Putin with a small one. One hieromonkwhich on his channel YouTube declared that “whoever unleashed the attack will not go to heaven”, was arrested for spreading fake news and now faces up to ten years in prison. In general, this article provides gigantic prison sentences. The deputy has already been sentenced to 7 years Alexei Gorinovwho spoke out against the war, and at 8.5 the politician Ilya Yashinwhich had disseminated information about the massacres of civilians a Bucha. Actually, for the Russian authorities the tragedy of Bucha is the argument more painful which increases the risk of going to jail instead of getting one fine. Thus, the police she set out to find an archaeologist from Omsk (who had shared a post about the crimes of Russians to Bucha And Mariupol) in the dense Siberian forests, where he was leading an expedition. The man was arrested and, by court decision, placed in a psychiatric hospital.

War on posters – Since the first day of the invasionthousands of Russians took to the streets, in mass or individual protests. It quickly became clear what billboards with the word “war” are tabooso the protesters have tried to disguise it with the words «*** *****» (implied net voine, “no to war”) or using sheets of white paperhowever not escaping the detention. At some point, the demonstrators’ imagination ran out, because even signs like “Hug me if you are for peace”, simply “Peace” and even for some reason “Fascism will not pass” were recognized as offensive to the russian army. In total, the anti-war protests in Russia they broke records detentions of the last ten years: almost 20,000 people have been arrested since 24 February.

No to the word! – In an attempt to get around the ban on using the word “war”, a resident of Tyumen she wrote «net v***e» in chalk on the sidewalk (always implying net voine, “no to war”) and, like others, was accused of “discrediting” the army. However, at the trial, the girl managed to prove that she actually meant “net voble” (no dried fish), because she feels a strong personal dislike for the species of fish Rutilus caspicus. The court had closed the proceedings, but then decided to resume the case and still fine the girl for discredit. By the way, now i television presentersthe officials of the Kremlin it’s the same Putin they use the word “war”. And one deputy from St. Petersburg went so far as to ask the Prosecutor General to initiate a criminal case against the president.

Intermittent borders – The Duma he also proposed to fine and arrest for “distribution of maps or Images contesting the territorial integrity of the Federation Russian“. Maybe i deputies they were inspired by the July episode which was about the wallpaper of Leroy Merlin: as it turned out, it depicted a world map with the Crimea still belonging to Ukraine and without the independent republics of DonetskLugansk, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. There Duma considered that this map was an example of how the Born use “every opportunity to advance your agenda on the territory of Russiaand called for an investigation into the store. Now, under the new law, such images will be classified as extremist materials. And this despite since then the situation has become much more complicated, given the territories acquired and immediately lost and the state borders which have now become, in the words of the political scientist Ekaterina Shulman“flickering”.

Extremism on Instagram – After a Russian court banned Meta Platforms Inc. due to “extremist activities”, Facebook And Instagram have begun to be considered in Russia social networks prohibited. This created a series of problems: hundreds of thousands of small entrepreneurs individual have lost the opportunity to earn money on social while the big ones producers they had to recall entire batches of their products if the symbols of the now “extremist” platforms were present on the labels. In September, then, for the first time, a user, an 18-year-old fashion blogger, risked six years in prison for asking to subscribe to her Instagram page.

Forbidden poetry – The authority Russian do not encourage any public statements against the war, even if made with the words of the classics. In March, the police arrested the translator and literary critic Lyubov Summ for reading a poem about the horrors of the warwhich was written by the great poet of the 19th century Nikolai Nekrasov and in Russia it is part of the school curriculum. In September, a young Moscow poet and activist was arrested for reading aloud i verses politicians, this time their own. The police beat and raped the young man and forced him to apologize for the poem on camera. He was hospitalized after that and is now in custody awaiting trial.

Betrayal of the country – Another “favorite” repressive article of the Russian authorities is high treason or rather, what can be connected to this crime. In this regard, the reporter Ivan Safronov was recently sentenced to 22 years in maximum security prison for writing several articles on the Russian military industry. This summer the State Duma adopted (in 1 minute 20 seconds) amendments to articles of the Criminal Code about betrayal And espionage, which have once again broadened these concepts and tightened the penalties. Now it will be possible to take millionaire fines and up to 20 years in prison for treason, to which the collection and the transfer of almost any information to almost any foreign organization, as well as any public criticism of the security forces. Just recently, a student of St.Pietroburgo received a “warning of high treason” for attempting to call a Ukrainian number for a collection of victim assistance.

Wrong music – Indeed, everything related the Ukraine can now be considered a potential discredit of the Russian army. A visitor to a karaoke bar in Crimea who asked the dj for playing a Ukrainian song, he received a fine of 50,000 rubles while the DJ was detained for ten days. Always in Crimeaat a restaurant where Ukrainian music was played during a wedding party, guests, including the parents of the bride and groom, were fined and imprisoned for “propaganda of Nazi symbols” and, again, “discrediting” the Russian military. Meanwhile, Muscovites were being arrested for listening to Ukrainian music in their apartment or car, and fined for wearing blue and yellow shoes. So far, the youngest who has been called to the police for “discrediting” the army has been a primary school student from the region of Fly who wrote “Glory to Ukraine” in a class chat.

Alternative for young people – The last ban in ours Ranking has nothing to do with the war unleashed by Russiabut it demonstrates well the mentality which prevails in the Russian authority and its “opposition” MP, which pursues ideas not dissimilar from those of the regime. In July, the Liberal Democratic Party proposed to ban e-cigarettes in Russia. The leader of the Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov supported the ban stating that they are indeed “the way for the development of drug addiction and the destruction of body of young people” and immediately proposed an alternative to this prohibition: to revive i Pioneers. The head of the communists believes that a pioneer organization and factory internships, common in theSoviet Unioncould save the youth from bad habits: “When a young has something to do, then he himself will not want to light a cigarette.”