Statement by the YABLOKO Bureau, 24.06.2016

Today, June 24, YABLOKO Bureau has adopted a statement criticizing Irina Yarovaya and Victor Ozerov’s anti-terrorist legislative set which was adopted by the State Duma at the third reading.

“Under the pretence of fighting terrorism [the bill authors] propose to tighten the current law and impose new sanctions on a number of offences which concede a broad interpretation. In the first place, it concerns a broad and indefinite interpretation of “extremism” in the legislation. The notion lists both serious crimes and “likes on social media”, YABLOKO statement runs.

Under the conditions of the dependence of judiciary authority on the legislative power the new regulations will be used as an instrument against dissidence and as well as to settle personal scores, the document runs.

“The adoption of the set of bills will give a free hand to military and security forces to persecute political undesirables and subject [citizens] to repression not only for their actions but for public expression of one’s opinion,” the Bureau stresses.

The statement also says that the provision of the security forces with the access to private messages and the obligation towards the Internet providers and Telecom operators to store data create new risks to peoples’ security. Due to high level of corruption the storage of a large data volume over a long period of time will create a strong probability of a leak to the black market.

The Bureau claims that “the only way to resist the further drift of the state towards totalitarianism” is to form a democratic faction in the State Duma.