Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Since 2000, the Russian constitution's free speech provisions – its equivalent of the First Amendment – have been systematically nullified by Vladimir Putin with the aid of tame courts and a puppet parliament. It offers a potential road map for other would-be autocrats. ⬇️

2/ In the late 1990s, it was still possible for Russians to exercise a high degree of free speech. Putin – then only prime minister – was one of many figures to be satirised on the show 'Kukly' ('Puppets'). Now, such commentary would result in many years behind bars.

3/ The current Russian constitution was enacted in December 1993. It contains what are on paper strong guarantees of free speech and the media (but with important limitations in paragraphs 2 and 4, which Putin has exploited to the full):

4/ Article 29:

1️⃣ Everyone shall be guaranteed freedom of thought and speech.

5/ 2️⃣ Propaganda or agitation, which arouses social, racial, national or religious hatred and hostility shall be prohibited. Propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic supremacy shall also be prohibited.

6/ 3️⃣ Nobody shall be forced to express his thoughts and convictions or to deny them.

7/ 4️⃣ Everyone shall have the right freely to seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information by any legal means. The list of types of information, which constitute State secrets, shall be determined by federal law.

5️⃣ The freedom of the mass media shall be guaranteed. Censorship shall be prohibited.

These articles have not been repealed. Yet freedom of speech is somewhere between very risky and dead, and censorship is widespread. How was this achieved?

9/ The Russian government passed Federal Law No. 114-FZ on Countering Extremist Activity in 2002, amended multiple times since, which broadly defines "extremism" to include certain forms of speech.

10/ This includes not only criticism of the government but is used against disfavoured religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as against the so-called "international LGBT movement", which was designated as extremist in 2023.

11/ The Russian Criminal Code also criminalises incitement to extremism, public calls for extremist activity, or justification of terrorism, while post-2022 laws criminalise "discrediting" the Russian military or spreading "false information" about it.

12/ Despite the unconstitutionality of such laws, they were passed by Russia's captive parliament and upheld by its government-controlled Supreme Court. Putin's United Russia party has controlled the Russian parliament since 2003, due to election-rigging.

13/ Every one of the 115 members of the Supreme Court was appointed by Putin or his one-term predecessor Dmitry Medvedev, as were the members of the Constitutional Court. Both are effectively controlled by Putin, who can also dismiss judges on vaguely defined grounds.

14/ The Extremism Law was challenged in 2020, but was upheld by the Supreme Court. It ruled that the law was constitutional, arguing that such measures align with the state’s duty to protect public safety and constitutional order.

15/ The Court has also consistently ruled that freedom of speech can be restricted under Article 55, Paragraph 3, which allows limitations on rights if necessary for state security, public order, or the protection of others’ rights.

16/ In addition, tax laws have frequently been abused to target political critics, opposition figures, and independent voices. This began in the early 2000s and was stepped up considerably following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

17/ This involves initiating audits, filing charges for tax evasion, fraud, or money laundering, and leveraging these cases to impose fines, seize assets, or secure prison sentences. Alexey Navalny and his anti-corruption organisation were particularly heavily targeted.

18/ The specific mechanisms through which these levers of repression are operated include the federal tax police and the Centre for Combating Extremism, otherwise known as Centre E, an Interior Ministry unit which is also active in occupied parts of Ukraine.

19/ The same mechanisms have been used to destroy Russian civil society organisations and the independent media, forcing many journalists and activists to either flee to exile or shut down. Tens of thousands of individuals and organisations have been declared to be 'extremists'.

20/ Putin was able to achieve these things through a combination of factors:

🔺 A legislature under his control and a party willing to do whatever he tells it to;

🔺 Top courts which are monopolised by judges appointed by him;

21/🔺 A Supreme Court which always defers to government claims about national security issues;

🔺 A corrupted tax service and justice system used as a political weapon;

🔺 A willingness from the top down to use all parts of the machinery of state against political opponents;

22/ 🔺 Laws that are so vaguely worded that they they can be applied for any purpose that the government wants.

23/ Thus, although the Russian Constitution may guarantee free speech on paper, it has been nullified in practice.

The same road map is potentially available to those seeking to convert democracies into autocracies.

24/ It requires a systematic programme of rigging legislatures and elections, appointing political allies as top judges, installing allies to run tax and judicial agencies for partisan political goals, and a hostile official attitude to democratic politics and human rights.

25/ Meanwhile, in the US today: