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The Federal Statute “On amendments to the Federal Statute “On State Support for Cinematography of the Russian Federation” was adopted by the State Duma on 26 July 2018 and signed by the President on 3 August. The amendments to the 1996 cinema statute (see IRIS 1999-2/17 and IRIS 2014-6/32) specify the regulation of foreign film exhibition at festivals in Russia. The law now provides a definition for a “film festival” as “a cultural and educational event that is held in accordance with the regulations (rules) as approved by the organizers of this event, presents in itself screening of specially...

After the international condemnation of the Russian authorities’ targeting of the punk band Pussy Riot, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found various violations of the band members’ rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The ECtHR found violations under Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Article 5 § 3 (the right to liberty and security) and 6 §§ 1 and 3 (c) of the ECHR (the right to a fair trial), in relation to the conditions of their transportation and detention in the courthouse, their pre-trial detention, their treatment during the...

In a decision dated 4 May 2018, the European Commission found compatible with EU law the Lithuanian authorities’ suspension for 12 months of the retransmission of a Russian-language channel, RTR Planeta, on the grounds of incitement to hatred. In its previous decisions of July 2015 and February 2017, the Commission reached the same conclusion regarding the temporary suspension of retransmission of RTR Planeta for three months by the Lithuanian authorities (see IRIS 2017-6/5). In the light of recurring infringements, on 14 February 2018 the Lithuanian authorities adopted a decision to temporarily...

On 9 May 2018, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered, unanimously, an important judgment with regard to the conditions regarding interferences by public authorities with extremist speech. The ECtHR found that the Russian authorities had violated Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to freedom of (political) expression. With its judgment, the ECtHR urged governments to be cautious when considering what constitutes hate speech and what constitutes criticism of the authorities. The case concerned Boris Vladimirovich Stomakhin’s conviction...

On 22 February 2018, a Justice of the Peace in Moscow made a decision on an administrative case in relation to an offence committed by Centromobile Pioner, a limited liability company which owns a Moscow cinema called “Pioner”. The case centred around the violation of paragraph 1 of Article 14.58 of the Code on Administrative Offences (see IRIS 2002-6/34), entitled “Exhibition of a film and/or showing of a film without an exhibition licence”). The case relates to the incident on 23 January 2018 when the Russian Ministry of Culture withdrew the licence to exhibit “The Death of Stalin”, a 2017 UK/France...