The new Law on the Prevention of Crime, signed on June 28 by Putin, punishes the anti-social behavior, without specifying what it is. It brings in the Russian code a repressive instrument from the Soviet times.
The law “On the basis of crime prevention in the Russian Federation”, voted by the Duma on June 10, has been promulgated by President Putin on the 28th.
It will enter into force 90 days after the promulgation, on September 21. The new law introduces in the Russian code the “antisocial behavior” and authorizes the Interior Ministry to blacklist perpetrators of such misconduct. The aspect that immediately made many commentators worry is its absolute indeterminacy. The law, in fact, behind an apparent definition of anti-sociality gives the authorities the maximum discretionary power. To violate the law it’s enough to go against “the standards of generally accepted behavior and morality”. It could mean everything from wearing underwear on the trousers to drinking cappuccino after lunch.
Soviet law on anti-social parasites
The last time the Russians have seen the “antisocial behavior” in a law it was in the decree of the Supreme Soviet July 4, 1961, against “anti-social, parasitic way of life”. Paradoxically, the Soviet law provided greater guarantee than toda’s one, at least on paper. The “anti-social parasite” was the one who had no job, in a planned economy, which provided full employment by default. The decree led, predictably, to numerous abuses and disappeared with the fall of the USSR, along with all the other illiberal laws, such as the one on anti-Soviet activities.
Today, the term anti-social returns and becomes totally subjective. And it’s really hard to imagine that it will be immune to abuse. “This is a preventive action. Something that the rocker and the hippies of the 70s and 80s remember very well”, wrote the journalist Tatiana Vostroilova, referring to the way the Soviet treated those youth groups.
But even without taking for granted the abuses that can occur under the new rule, it remains the serious signal the authorities are giving to the Russian citizens, without exception.
Volunteer patrols
It is not necessary to point out the danger that lurks behind any definition of “common morality”. And there are many things still unclear with respect to this law. It is unclear, for example, what will follow the inclusion in the list. If the ‘anti-social’ person will be surveilled by the police or if the fact of being on the list can serve as a precedent or as an aggravating circumstance in the case of criminal offenses. In addition, writes the journalist of Novaya Gazeta Irina Gordienko, “surveillance will not only be the task of the police but also to volunteer patrols.”
This bill marks a new low in an increasingly bleak context for civil rights in Russia. But it is nothing new. Even the much criticized law on “extremism” leaves very broad margin of discretion to the authorities, and has often been used to punish peaceful demonstrations against the Kremlin. In the same way the law against so-called “foreign agents” has been used to strike citizen’s organizations. And this is happening while the Duma was voting the new provisions against terrorism, which gives enormous powers to the police.
In 1991 it was necessary the collapse of the USSR to wipe out a legal system designed to control the masses and serve the power. Will one day the end of Putin enough to set Russia free from Putinism?
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The new Law on the Prevention of Crime, signed on June 28 by Putin, punishes the anti-social behavior, without specifying what it is. It brings in the Russian code a repressive instrument from the Soviet times.
