Russia

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma, approved a law in late June 2002 at President Vladimir Putin's request to ban "all forms of extremist activity" on the Internet. The new law aroused fears among online freedom advocates of more power for the police. Putin's political opponents feared it would be used to target minority parties, which could be prosecuted and their websites shut down if they were accused by the authorities of encouraging or supporting extremism on the Internet. "Russia does have extremists and nationalists, but their eradication is not this law's real purpose," said Sergei Kovalyov, a Union of Right Forces (SPS) member of the Duma. "It allows online activity to be banned for no good reason." He was also concerned about the law's provision to allow punishment to be based on criminal legislation. But the heaviest criticism was of the 11 categories of extremist activity, which drew on laws against terrorism, attempts to overthrow the government and inciting people to riot or racial hatred. The law also banned any activity or publication threatening the country's "security." Freedom of expression and human rights campaigners say this too-broad definition of extremism will threaten perfectly legitimate activity, such a websites that oppose the war in Chechnya. The information ministry threatened in late October 2002 to shut down the website of the radio station Ekho Moskvy for broadcasting an interview with Chechen guerrillas holding several hundred people hostage in a Moscow theatre. The mass kidnapping gave the government a chance to propose an anti-terrorist law that allows the authorities to prosecute any journalist reporting on matters related to terrorism or the war in Chechnya. At the last minute, Putin vetoed the bill and asked parliament to revise it. Access to Chechen news sites is systematically blocked. They included chechen.ru, cut off by the FSB (ex-KGB) on 5 November 2002. In early December, Dmitri Chepchugov, head of the interior ministry's anti-cybercrime department, said all websites connected with Chechen rebels had been identified and that an undisclosed number had been shut down. Even though they were based abroad, foreign ISPs had barred access to them. Among them was kavkaztsenter site, based in Estonia, cut off in late April 2003 after pressure from the Russian authorities. LINKS: - The Glasnost Defence Foundation - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty - The human rights news agency Prima News