Rights defenders link Chechen practice of public apologies with Klishas' bill

There are no legal grounds for catching critics of the authorities and forcing them to repent, the lawyer, Evgeny Chernousov, has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 21, Djambulat Umarov, the Chechen Minister for National Politics, External Relations, Press and Information, suggested initiating separate rubrics in mass media for placing apologies, so that residents of Chechnya be responsible "for their words" in social networks and actions. He also supported the Russia's Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky, on the need to de-anonymize all Internet users.

The bill of Senator Andrei Klishas on the punishment for "disrespect for the state" shows that the practice of forced apologies is being extended from Chechnya to the whole of Russia, said Alexander Verkhovsky, the director of the "Sova" Information and Analytical Centre.

Evgeny Chernousov, a lawyer and retired colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), believes that the law does not regulate the user's responsibility expressing his/her opinions on certain political, economic or social processes, if the Criminal Code is not violated.

Alexander Verkhovsky, the director of the "Sova" Information and Analytical Centre, said that the practice of public punishment is used only in Chechnya so far, but over the time it may become a trend.

In Chechnya, the practice of public apologies has been around for more than a year; it can be called "the practice of public humiliation," said Tatiana Lokshina, the programme director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Russia.