Davankov proposed to establish a statute of limitations for bringing to responsibility for publications

Vladislav Davankov, Vice Speaker of the State Duma from the New People party, proposed establishing a statute of limitations for bringing to administrative responsibility for posts published on the Internet. Developed amendments to Art. 4.5 (“Prescription period for bringing to administrative responsibility”) of the Code of Administrative Offenses, Davankov sent to the government to obtain an opinion. The deputy himself told Vedomosti about this.

According to the amendments, offenses expressed in the dissemination of messages or other information on the Internet are calculated from the day the administrative offense was committed, that is, immediately from the day of publication. “Now even a comment from two years ago can be considered a “continued violation. Although a person has long forgotten about him, and could well change his position on this matter,” Davankov said. He believes that the bill should protect people from liability for old posts in social networks, and the statute of limitations for administrative articles should be the same as offline: two to three months after publication. In the explanatory note, the author clarifies that it can be about 60 or 90 days. “In this case, the citizen cannot be held administratively liable for activity on social networks that he committed outside the statute of limitations,” Davankov emphasized in an explanatory note.

Recently, the courts have very often begun to prosecute persons who previously posted posts or even reposted any other people’s articles and posts, says Vitaly Shakin, senior partner of the YurCity ICA, lawyer. In such cases, for example, Art. 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation – Incitement of hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity or Art. 20.3.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation – Public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, art. 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation – “Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the RF Armed Forces in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, maintain international peace and security”, etc. “I assume that such amendments will not pass peer review. Currently, all actions are aimed primarily at combating such posts, so it is unlikely that anyone will think about the other side, ”says Shakin.

According to Dmitry Kletochkin, a partner at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev & Partners, there are many examples of ongoing offenses, such as exploiting something without permission. Posting on the Internet is a classic example of a continuing offense. “Since the publication of any specific information is prohibited, the entire time that this information is in the public domain (published), the offense lasts. If the author removes the publication, the offense will stop,” he says. The lawyer doubts that Davankov’s amendments can be adopted: “Their adoption will mean that the relevant regulatory body will have to work at speed, meeting the deadlines for bringing to responsibility.” In addition, there will be legal uncertainty about reprinting information if the original post is removed.

There are no separate statistics on continuing offenses by the authorities, said Anastasia Kucherena, managing partner of Key Consulting Group. A similar amendment to criminal law would add legal certainty, the lawyer believes, while it is useless in administrative law. In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation there is no concept of a continuing crime, but in the Code of Administrative Offenses it is. In criminal law, the statute of limitations for bringing to justice is calculated from the time the act was terminated by the will or against the will of the perpetrator. In this regard, it is important to have the fact of posting or reposting, and not the date of publication. “This may violate the rights of citizens due to the fact that access to the account may be lost, the person will no longer be able to stop the crime on his own,” says Kucherena. In the administrative same, according to Art. 4.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, in case of a continuing offense, the terms begin to be calculated from the day the administrative offense is discovered.