MOSCOW, May 07, /ITAR-TASS/. Criminal responsibility for the rehabilitation of Nazism is introduced in Russia, effective from Wednesday, with the maximum punishment being the deprivation of freedom for a term of up to five years. Amendments to this effect to the Penal Code and to the Code on Administrative Offences are published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Article 354.1 ("Rehabilitation of Nazism") is added to the Penal Code. The Article envisages punishments ranging from a fine (up to 300,000 roubles) to deprivation of freedom or forced labour for a term of up to three years for a denial in public of the facts established by the sentence passed by the Nuremberg Tribunal, or an approval of the crimes established by the Tribunal, as well as for spread of deliberately false data on the activities of the USSR during the Second World War years.
The maximum fine for the same acts, committed with the use of one's official position, with the use of the media, and the framing-up of charges, grows up to 500,000 roubles and a possible prison term of up to five years, the newspaper points out.
The new Penal Code article also provides for one's responsibility for the "spread of data expressing an obvious disrespect for society and concerning the Days of Military Glory and Russia's commemorative dates connected with the defence of the Fatherland, and for desecration in public of the symbols of Russia's military glory. This is penalized by a fine of up to 300,000 roubles or compulsory or correctional labour.
Provision is made for a fine ranging from 400,000 to one million roubles for legal entities guilty of similar offences committed with the use of the media and the Internet.