Parliamentary faction Yabloko considers it necessary to pass a Law on Combating Extremist Activity

The Yabloko faction in the State Duma believes it necessary to pass a Law on Combating Extremist Activity "in conditions of the splash of extremism and the signs of the formation of an extremist underground in Russia." Sergei Mitrokhin, a member of the Yabloko faction, told reporters about it before the beginning of the State Duma's plenary session on Thursday at which the parliamentarians will consider in the second reading the presidential draft Law on Combating Extremist Activity.

Mitrokhin said that "it is very important that the adoption of the new law will make it possible to fight not only against individuals who profess extremist ideas and popularise them but also against the organisational structures of this kind." The Yabloko faction, said Mitrokhin, has proposed the following amendments to the second reading of the draft law: to exclude from the definition of extremism the words about declaring illegal the actions aimed at hindering "the legal activity of the federal bodies of state power, the bodies of state power in Russian constituents and local self-government bodies." The Yabloko faction also believes that the halting of the activity of public organisations, suspected of extremism, must be validated by a corresponding decision of the Supreme Court only. Apart from that, Yabloko comes out for removing from the text of the draft law the mentioning of "another state body" except the Ministry of Justice which would be called upon to notice the appearance of extremist manifestations.

In the opinion of the Yabloko faction, these amendments to the draft law would make it impossible to use this law as an instrument of political pressure but would preserve all the possibilities for an active fight against any manifestations of extremism.