MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. Members of Russian parliament have suggested introduction of criminal responsibility for acts of outraging on the Russian national anthem. An appropriate bill has been submitted by members of the upper house, Vadim Tyulpanov and Andrei Klishas, and State Duma deputy Raziet Natkho to the the Duma.
A letter of comments to the bill says the incumbent legislation does not offer equal protection to symbols of the state.
The authors of the bill claim that protection of the national anthem rests solely on Clause 17.10 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and outrages on it entail fines of 3,000 rubles for individuals, 7,000 rubles for officials and 150,000 rubles for legal entities.
In contrast to it, the bill they have drafted envisions changes in Article 329 of the Criminal Code ('Defilement of State Symbols') that will transfer the offenses related to outrages on the anthem to the category of criminal actions.
These offenses will be punished by jail terms of up to 12 months or by corrective works of the same duration.
"The national anthem is the state symbol of Russia in music but the punishment for defiling it shouldn't be symbolic," Vadim Tyulpanov said.
The bill describes the anthem as a musical and poetic work and says it should be performed in line with unified instructions on the music and lyrics. It also includes a provision for "forming a correct and unambiguous understanding of this norm by legal professionals."
The bill stipulates that an outrage on the anthem is understood as a "purposeful distortion of its authorized musical form or text in the process of public performance or publication in mass media or electronic information networks.".