State Duma introduces fines of up to 150 thousand for officials for insulting citizens

The State Duma on Tuesday adopted in the second - main - reading a draft law on the introduction of administrative fines of up to 150 thousand rubles for civil servants for insulting citizens, which also equates insults on the Internet with public ones and provides for a substantial fine for defamation for legal entities.

The bill on amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) was submitted to the State Duma in early May by the head of the Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, Alexander Khinshtein, and the first vice-speaker of the Federation Council, Andrei Turchak. According to the text, an insult committed by a civil servant or municipal employee in connection with the exercise of his powers entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles or disqualification for up to one year. For a repeated violation, a fine is established in the amount of 100-150 thousand rubles or disqualification (deprivation of the right to fill positions in the state and municipal service) for up to two years.

Administrative fines for insult in general are also increasing. Thus, the maximum collection amount will increase for citizens from three thousand to five thousand rubles, for officials - from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles, and for legal entities - from 100 thousand to 200 thousand rubles. The amendments to the second reading clarify that an insult is a humiliation of honor and dignity, expressed not only in an indecent form, but in “another form that is contrary to generally accepted norms of morality and ethics”. Fines for public insults will apply, among other things, to statements made “against several persons, including individually indeterminate ones”.

In addition, the bill also equates insults on the Internet with public insults, including through the media. The maximum amount of recovery according to these qualifying criteria will increase for citizens from 5 thousand to 10 thousand rubles, for officials - from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 500 thousand to 700 thousand rubles.

Failure to take measures to prevent public insult in the media or the Internet will be punishable by a fine for officials in the amount of 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles (now - from 10 thousand to 30 thousand), and for legal entities - from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles (now from 30 thousand to 50 thousand).

Another amendment to the second reading of the Administrative Code is supplemented by an article providing for liability for libel for legal entities.

 
According to the text, "libel, that is, the spread of knowingly false information discrediting the honor and dignity of another person or undermining his reputation", will entail the imposition of an administrative fine on legal entities in the amount of 500 thousand to three million rubles.