MOSCOW, September 20 (RAPSI) - Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova believes that criminal sentence including imprisonment is disproportionately tough punishment for unintentional “likes”and reposts on social media, a statement published on the ombudsman’s website reads. 

Legally speaking, malice is to be proven in such cases, Moskalkova said. The posted information itself may be injurious for the society, state or certain persons. However, if users did not realize that they made repost of an injurious fake, they are innocent because of criminal intent absence, which is not the case for an author of the publication, who willfully purported to drive a wedge or panic in the society, according to the statement.

People transferring information are not always able to entirely assess its level of public danger and conceivable detrimental effects of its distribution, Moskalkova stated. Therefore, the ombudsman backed an initiative to decriminalize the Criminal Code’s articles stipulating punishment for reposts and “likes” on social media.

Moreover, on Thursday, the Supreme Court of Russia in its Plenum resolution explained that courts considering extremism cases should proceed from a level of public danger and hazard mode.

The Criminal Code of Russia attracts a criminal sentence for incitement of enmity but not for reposts on social networks. If a publication is extremist, malice of the repost must be proven, the Supreme Court’s Judge Vladimir Davydov said during the Plenum’s session.