Alexander Shishlov spoke out in the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg against the repressive federal law on the deprivation of filmmakers of state funding
Press Release, 15.11.2022
Photo: Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Alexander Shishlov, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, spoke out against the draft amendment to the federal law “On State Support for Cinematography”, initiated by the deputies from A Just Russia faction in the State Duma.
The new norm envisages refusal in state funding to producers and distributors if at least one of those involved in the production of a film was punished under the articles on “discrediting” or “fakes” about the Russian army. The bill was introduced, among other things, by the federal parliamentarians from St. Petersburg – Sergei Mironov and Yelena Drapeko.
The bill was considered at a meeting of the Commission on Education, Culture and Science of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg on Monday, 14 November. According to Shishlov, the norm is repressive and violates the constitutional rights of citizens.
“The purpose of the law “On State Support for Cinematography” is precisely to support creativity. It does not contain any restrictions on funding and government support on any grounds. The only restriction is not to issue distribution certificates for films promoting drugs, extremism and pornography. The bill of the A Just Russia faction virtually introduces a ban on the profession for all teams that include at least one person who was subjected to sanctions under the articles on fakes and discrediting,” Shishlov said.
He also noted that the explanatory note to the bill generally gave the impression that it had been written by people engaged in state propaganda, rather than legislation. It contained such terms as “anti-state position”, but there was no such concept in law, Shishlov noted.
Shishlov proposed not to support the bill and consider its adoption inappropriate. The majority of the members of the commission preferred not to directly express their attitude towards the initiative and limited themselves to the wording “to take note of”.
ALEXANDER SHISHLOV
is head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, and Chairman of the Yabloko branch in St.Petersburg
Posted: November 15th, 2022 under Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Political Parties, YABLOKO Against the Parties of Power, YABLOKO's faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches.