Analysts treat govt's refusal to ban mentioning criminals' nationality in media as expected

The refusal of the Russian government to support the bill brought in by the Chechen parliament suggesting to ban the mentioning of criminals' nationality and religion in media was expected, since there are criminal plots bound specifically to the ethnic component, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 22, 2021, the Chechen parliament submitted to the Russian State Duma a draft amendment to the law "On Mass Media", which provided for a ban on the publication of information about the nationality and religion of the people involved in crimes. On April 22, 2022, the Russian government refused to support the above draft.

The Russian government's decision was expected, Nadezhda Azhgikhina, the director of PEN-Moscow, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on April 25.

"Public interest implies the knowledge of all the circumstances, including criminal actions. And since there are criminal plots that are tied to the ethnic component, they cannot be ignored," Ms Azhgikhina has explained.

Federal media are systematically and purposefully pedalling the topic of criminals' ethnicity in order to create stereotypes and criminal images of residents of certain regions, Ruslan Kutaev, the President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, believes.

"In fact, federal journalists are always consciously and purposefully exposing Caucasians, Muslims and Chechens, claiming that these people are criminals, that they are prone to crime, terrorism, and so on. The initiative of the Chechen parliament was good, but its rejection was expected," Mr Kutaev has stated.

The government's decision to leave everything unchanged will in no way affect Ramzan Kadyrov's image and political weight, Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civic Assistance" Committee*, believes.

"I support the initiative not to mention criminals' nationality. What does it have to do with the case? Citizenship is another matter. And talking about the ethnic origin – what does this have to do with the crime?" she asked.

*The Committee has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of non-commercial organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 26, 2022 at 01:59 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.