Deputy of the State Duma of Russia from Chechnya Shamsail Saraliev proposed to limit the free speech of people on the federal wanted list for charges of extremism and terrorism in the Russian media. If parliament passes this legislative initiative, opposition activists and politicians critical of the regime could lose access to the media.
"I urge to limit the speeches of people who are on the federal and international wanted list in Russia. That is, who have committed a crime under certain articles of the Criminal Code, fled the country and are the author of programs on radio stations and television," Saraliev told.
The deputy stressed that the restriction is connected precisely with the political position of the speakers, who, as he put it, "attack" the authorities in Russia and call on the US and the EU to impose sanctions. It proposed that print and online media introduce the labelling of such speakers as "a person who is on the federal or international wanted list," similar to the labelling of terrorist organizations and NGOs recognised as "foreign agents."
"Even convicts are limited in their freedom of speech only by the framework of the regime, not to mention those under investigation. Restricting freedom of speech on such grounds is not in line with the Constitution," Aleksandr Verkhovsky, director of the Sova Information and Analytical Center, commented.
Since February 4, the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and his entourage have not publicly discussed the Chechen human rights activist Abubakar Yangulbaev, whose mother was forcibly taken from Nizhny Novgorod to Grozny, where she was subsequently accused of assaulting a policeman and arrested. Kadyrov and his entourage made open threats against the Yangulbaev family, and a rally against them was held in Grozny, to which, according to media reports, state employees were massively rounded up. The Kremlin refused to intervene in the situation, but after meeting with the Russian president in Moscow on February 3, Ramzan Kadyrov and his associates stopped publicly mentioning the Yangulbayevs.
