Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Putin Government Arrests Leading Critic While Changing Definition of Treason To Allow Prosecution Of Journalists, Human Rights Activists, and Dissidents

The world has watched as Russian President Vladimir Putin destroys the fledgling democracy movement in Russia and reinstates authoritarian government to that nation. While actively (and admittedly) crafting a cult of personality around manufactured Superhuman exploits, Putin has striven to reinstate the oppressive laws from the Soviet era. In the face of continuing protests, Putin appears intent to show that he can and will do anything he wants with critics. This month his underlings arrested the best known protest organizer Sergei Udaltsov while his government has shutdown international human rights organizations and NGOs. At the same time, his government has passed a new law in the lower house of the Duma to radically expand the definition of treason in Russia. Udaltsov led the largest protests against Putin as part of a campaign of “Russia Without Putin.”


Russian prosecutors used a documentary on a pro-Kremlin TV channel to accuse Sergei Udaltsov of plotting “mass disorder.” The Putin government used the case as an excuse to search the homes of critics — a classic Soviet era tactic.

The police say that the documentary showed that Udaltsov received money and orders from an ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to cause unrest in Russia.

Police say that they suspect Uadltsov and his associates of planning “terrorist acts” in Russia. It is a telling allegation since the Putin government has moved to radically expand the definition of treason in Russia.

The Putin government issued a statement that is clearly designed to chill anyone who joins the anti-Putin protests: “Those who think they can with impunity organize riots, plan and prepare terrorist attacks and other acts that threaten the lives and health of Russians, you underestimate the Russian special services’ professionalism.”

This menacing message was amplified by the new legislation. The law passed in the lower house makes it treason not only to pass on state secrets but receiving, transmitting or publicizing such information. That would bring protesters and journalists within the scope of the law in publicizing crackdowns by Putin and human rights abuses. It will be considered treason to reveal such information to international organizations, which have been the target of much of the crackdown by Putin who is embarrassed by the continuing international criticism of his authoritarian inclinations.

The law also lowers the standard to remove the requirement that prosecutors show “hostile intent.” Now all that is required is that the Putin government show a “threat to state security,” which they largely define.

Source: Reuters and FT

51 thoughts on “Putin Government Arrests Leading Critic While Changing Definition of Treason To Allow Prosecution Of Journalists, Human Rights Activists, and Dissidents”

  6. anonymously posted,

    Thanks very very much for the JT interview.
    A very good job by our Professor.
    Seldom seen an interviewer and interviewee work together so well.

    The anoalogy ot sand running out of our hands (civil rights) and not pendling back has been confirmed since then. And Congress still applauses and passes the desired laws, even if they now come from Obama to a Republican steered House.

    Appalling! Frightening. Yes, even that.

  8. In many respects the US criminal state most resembles Russia. When all this happens here I’m certain that many, many people will be on board with it, all the way. This kind of absolute power does not exist without a willing accomplice in a nation’s public. We have that public and we will have these results. -Jill

    Yes, yes, and yes.

    Here’s an old, Bush era interview with the host of this blog. It’s worth revisiting, IMO. (Ignore the header and refer to the clarification*.)

    http://youtu.be/Wmc60JmaLbE

    Clarification: http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/bush-the-constitution-a-goddamned-piece-of-paper/

  12. Well, he’s “our” Putin. Everything is just fine.

    From Glenn Greenwald: “A primary reason for opposing the acquisition of abusive powers and civil liberties erosions is that they virtually always become permanent, vested not only in current leaders one may love and trust but also future officials who seem more menacing and less benign.

    The Washington Post has a crucial and disturbing story this morning by Greg Miller about the concerted efforts by the Obama administration to fully institutionalize – to make officially permanent – the most extremist powers it has exercised in the name of the war on terror.

    Based on interviews with “current and former officials from the White House and the Pentagon, as well as intelligence and counterterrorism agencies”, Miller reports that as “the United States’ conventional wars are winding down”, the Obama administration “expects to continue adding names to kill or capture lists for years” (the “capture” part of that list is little more than symbolic, as the US focus is overwhelmingly on the “kill” part). Specifically, “among senior Obama administration officials, there is broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade.” As Miller puts it: “That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism.”

    In pursuit of this goal, “White House counterterrorism adviser John O Brennan is seeking to codify the administration’s approach to generating capture/kill lists, part of a broader effort to guide future administrations through the counterterrorism processes that Obama has embraced.” All of this, writes Miller, demonstrates “the extent to which Obama has institutionalized the highly classified practice of targeted killing, transforming ad-hoc elements into a counterterrorism infrastructure capable of sustaining a seemingly permanent war.”

    The Post article cites numerous recent developments reflecting this Obama effort, including the fact that “CIA Director David H Petraeus is pushing for an expansion of the agency’s fleet of armed drones”, which “reflects the agency’s transformation into a paramilitary force, and makes clear that it does not intend to dismantle its drone program and return to its pre-September 11 focus on gathering intelligence.” The article also describes rapid expansion of commando operations by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and, perhaps most disturbingly, the creation of a permanent bureaucratic infrastructure to allow the president to assassinate at will:

    “JSOC also has established a secret targeting center across the Potomac River from Washington, current and former U.S. officials said. The elite command’s targeting cells have traditionally been located near the front lines of its missions, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. But JSOC created a ‘national capital region’ task force that is a 15-minute commute from the White House so it could be more directly involved in deliberations about al-Qaeda lists.”

    The creepiest aspect of this development is the christening of a new Orwellian euphemism for due-process-free presidential assassinations: “disposition matrix”. Writes Miller:

    “Over the past two years, the Obama administration has been secretly developing a new blueprint for pursuing terrorists, a next-generation targeting list called the ‘disposition matrix’.

    “The matrix contains the names of terrorism suspects arrayed against an accounting of the resources being marshaled to track them down, including sealed indictments and clandestine operations. US officials said the database is designed to go beyond existing kill lists, mapping plans for the ‘disposition’ of suspects beyond the reach of American drones.”

  14. This is coming here. Parts of it are here already. The reason it will all be instituted is because of the cult of personality around Obama and people’s refusal to hold him and other high level “personalities” accountable to the rule of law.

    Obama is already killing people on his own say so. When he kills civilians, he defines them as terrorists. Don’t think that won’t be coming to the motherland because it will.

    Obama supporters have made it clear that anything goes with them. Kill a 16 year old for no reason, fine. Use drones to kill civilians, including 4 year olds, babies and the elderly-fine. Arrest a whistleblower and torture him, check! More drilling, cut SS, stop poor, terribly ill women from having access to abortion coverage when their life depends on it, check. No matter what he does, supporters are O.K. with it. That is a very dangerous message to send to any person in power. You can do anything and we still support, even still admire and love you. WHOA! Inactions have consequences–you just told Obama there’s no brake on his actions. That’s what too many Russians have told Putin. The consequences of assent to wrongdoing, to a cult of personality are completely clear, completely predictable.

    In many respects the US criminal state most resembles Russia. When all this happens here I’m certain that many, many people will be on board with it, all the way. This kind of absolute power does not exist without a willing accomplice in a nation’s public. We have that public and we will have these results.

  16. Nick,

    The most ruthless person in the world…. Come now….. Think cheney….. Haliburton oil…… Putin… Not in that class…. Koch brothers come to mind as well……

  17. The law also lowers the standard to remove the requirement that prosecutors show “hostile intent.” Now all that is required is that the Putin government show a “threat to state security,” which they largely define.
    —————————————————————————————–
    So, what is the law?

  19. Charming fellow. Not.

    Superior to any POTUS we have or had. Ex-KGB head, judo master, and supposedly good at chess. Don’t misunderestimate him.

  20. And who said the US was the only country with warped redefinitions of words, with arrests of a free press intended to silence them?

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