Russians living in Italy queue up hear the Russin embassy to vote in the March presidential election. EPA-EFE/Matteo Corner / Z14
A State Duma committee has proposed a bill punishing individuals who “publicly insult government officials” with prison terms of up to two years be introduced to Russia’s lower house of parliament, state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.
The bill, authored by Vasily Piskaryov, who chairs the State Duma Committee on Security and Corruption Control, would amend the existing article of the Russian Criminal Code on insulting government officials, doubling the maximum fine for individuals from 40,000 (€400) to 80,000 rubles (€800).
The punishment increases if the “insult” is posted online or appears in the media, with a fine of up to 1 million rubles (€10,000), community service of up to 480 hours, correctional labour for up to two years, or a two-year prison term, TASS added.
While Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Monday that the bill had received the backing of the Russian government following a review, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on Tuesday denied that the bill had been introduced to the State Duma and stressed that it “wasn’t being considered”.
In June 2023 the Russian Supreme Court ruled that insulting an official was “criminally punishable” if an individual had “publicly used swear words”, “published derogatory information online or in the media” or “publicly insulted the honour and dignity” of a government official. According to the Supreme Court, a total of 5,912 people in Russia were charged with insulting government officials in 2022.
The article criminalising insults against Russian officials has been used to silence dissent in Russia alongside tougher military censorship laws introduced in March 2022, soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The current version of the article does not introduce real prison terms for citizens found guilty of insulting public officials, however.
