Russia mulls 70-year social media & press interview ban for murderers, rapists & pedophiles in bid to stop glamorization of evil
10 Jun, 2021 14:06
(L) Law enforcement agents near the unidentified man who stabbed Tatyana Felgengauer, a host at the Echo of Moscow radio station, with a knife. © Sputnik / Vitaly Ruvinsky; (R) Blood stains on the floor at the Echo of Moscow radio station. © Sputnik / Vitaly Ruvinsky
A Russian lawmaker has put forward a draft bill that would block those convicted of shocking and violent crimes from speaking to journalists, writing memoirs or sharing their thoughts on social media for lengthy stretches of time.
Dmitry Sablin, an MP from the governing United Russia party unveiled the proposals on Thursday. The additional measures could be tacked on to sentences handed down by judges for the most serious offenses, including murder, rape and pedophilia.
If passed, the rule change would give judges the power to extend bans for up to 70 years, which would cover “appearances in any media, at public meetings, cultural events, meetings and on the internet.” It would also enable them to prohibit convicts to maintain social media accounts, publish memoirs or be paid for performances or speeches.
Organizations falling foul of the restrictions on publishing material from killers and other serious criminals would potentially face fines of at least 300,000 rubles ($4,160 USD) and could be ordered to suspend operations for up to six months.
300,000 rubles seems woefully inadequate a fine. A good story can make you many times that amount.
“A recent interview with a maniac, who made jokes and promised to ‘take care of’ a surviving victim – which cynics tried to call ‘research into evil’ – proves the urgent need for these measures,” Sablin said.
In March, influential Russian presenter and one-time presidential candidate, Ksenia Sobchak, published a sit-down conversation held with Viktor Mokhov, who served 16 years behind bars for kidnapping, drugging and repeatedly raping two teenage girls. He held the pair captive in a basement near his house in the town of Skopin, south of Moscow, for more than 40 months, where one woman gave birth to two sons. Branded by Russian media as ‘the Skopinsky maniac’, he was released from jail just days prior to the interview.
And do you seriously think that fear of a 300,000 ruble fine is going to stop her from doing it again.
'Bravo to Louisiana': John Bel Edwards signs bill
removing deadlines for child sex-abuse lawsuits
BY RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS
PUBLISHED JUN 14, 2021 AT 7:14 PM
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a legislative bill removing deadlines for child sex abuse victims to pursue damages in civil court, capping off a major victory for survivors of the Catholic Church’s clerical molestation scandal.
The law, which takes effect Aug. 1, creates a three-year window where all unresolved child molestation claims — no matter how old — can be pursued in civil court.
“The scars of childhood sexual abuse may stay with survivors long-term, and they deserve more time to report these devastating crimes,” Edwards spokesperson Christina Stephens said.
Sponsored by state Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, House Bill 492 reforms a 28-year-old law which gave child sex molestation victims in Louisiana until their 28th birthday to initiate litigation over their abuse.
Hughes cited research that showed that the average age for child sex-abuse victims to come forward and report their ordeals is 52. Though the new law will apply to a wide range of victims, Hughes’ bill received key support from a coalition of people who were abused by Catholic priests and deacons, their attorneys and a national advocacy group that took up their cause and specializes in strengthening child protection laws.
A series of amendments proposed to earlier versions of Hughes’ bill delayed the final vote on it until Thursday, the last day of the 2021 legislative session. But after all the amendments were incorporated on Thursday, the House and Senate voted unanimously to advance the bill to Edwards’ desk.
State Sen. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, introduced amendments to Hughes’ bill to eliminated filing deadlines for child sex abuse lawsuits — rather than simply extend them — and opened the three-year period known as a “lookback window.”
Hughes had initially omitted a provision for a lookback window from an early version of his bill because he said he wanted to avoid a fight with the insurance lobby.
But the amended bill ultimately sailed through both of the state’s legislative chambers. And Edwards’ signature on the bill Monday made Louisiana only the 22nd state to adopt such a lookback window.
“Not only will this (law) afford victims of horrific child sexual abuse justice, but it will also make the children of Louisiana safer,” said a statement from Child USAdvocacy Director Kathryn Robb, who helped Hughes draft the bill. “The light of truth is both healing and protective. Bravo to Louisiana.”
Hungary bans ‘promotion’ of homosexuality and transgenderism
to under-18s amid protests
15 Jun, 2021 14:28
© Reuters / Marton Monus
A law prohibiting the sharing of content portraying homosexuality and transgenderism to those under the age of 18 has been passed by Hungary’s National Assembly.
The vote passed on Tuesday by a vote of 157-1.
The law was included in a larger bill cracking down on pedophilia by creating a register of child sex offenders, implementing stricter punishments for child pornography, and barring pedophile offenders from jobs where they would encounter children. It also singled out the promotion of LGBT affairs in schools.
Sex education in schools “must not be aimed” at “promoting homosexuality” or “changing gender,” said Fidesz, the ruling party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a press release following the vote.
Additionally, those under the age of 18 cannot be shown pornographic content, or any content, deemed as promoting homosexuality or transgenderism – with television shows, movies, and advertisements included.
Television stations and streaming platforms will only be able to target such content at adults.
Though the bill was supported by members of the ruling Fidesz and right-wing Jobbik parties, all opposition parties boycotted the vote in protest, while several civil rights groups including Amnesty International Hungary, the Hungarian LGBT Association, and Budapest Pride condemned the move – comparing Hungary to “autocratic states” Russia and China, which have similar laws in place.
Thousands of Hungarians also took to the streets in protest on Monday, where they carried LGBT rainbow flags and shouted, “We are here!”
Last year, Hungary passed a bill prohibiting same-sex couples from adopting children.
The passing of the law is yet another blow to Hungary’s rocky relationship with Brussels, and European Union officials have already begun to condemn it.
“Using child protection as an excuse to target LGBTIQ people is damaging to all children in Hungary,” said Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, a French Green Party MEP who serves as the European Parliament rapporteur on the rule of law in Hungary.
I think anyone who really knows anything about the damage LGBTQ and transgenderism is doing to children will disagree strongly with Gwendoline.
So glad to see Hungary stand up against the madness that is being taught in schools and elsewhere.
Hardcore regulations? Russian government could control access to porn under new proposals designed to protect underage children
16 Jun, 2021 13:02
Russian lovers of adult content (and there are far too many of them) could soon be forced to ask their government for permission before they can access saucy snaps and spicy clips online, with a public services portal acting as the gateway to all legal pornography.
The new proposals, from Moscow’s General Radio Frequency Centre, a subsidiary of state media watchdog Roskomnadzor, would see X-rated material shuttered away in an adults-only area on the internet. All pornography would be categorized as either ‘illegal’ or ‘not prohibited by law’.
While banned pornography would include that featuring minors and depicting “clearly offensive” themes such as rape, permitted pictures and videos would be “naturalistic images or descriptions of the genitals of an adult and/or sexual intercourse or comparable sexual activity of a sexual nature involving adults with their consent.”
But while that might sound too tantalizing to pass up (see, that's a typically Russian attitude toward pornography), only those over the age of 18 would be able to access the content, having to sign in through a state-run public services portal before feasting their eyes on the trove.
Roman Korostashov, acting head of the Scientific and Technical Center at the General Radio Frequency Centre, said the plans were a no-brainer. “Our main task is to protect children from destructive content,” he said, emphasizing that cracking down on illegal online material was one of the group’s main focuses.
It is, however, unclear whose job it would be to trawl the depths of the web and decide which porn falls into which category. Equally unclear is how it would work in practice, given the widespread availability of proxy servers that allow net users to access pretty much whatever they want.
Last week, Roskomnadzor warned that major tech giants including Facebook, Twitter, and Google are continuing to host shocking illegal material online, despite thousands of requests from its officials to take down prohibited posts. According to them, more than 10,000 banned posts are still up, including “child pornography, suicidal and pro-narcotic content, the involvement of minors in illegal activities and illegal mass events,” as well as “materials from extremist and terrorist organizations.”
At the start of the year, President Vladimir Putin warned that companies were taking too relaxed an attitude to protecting the public. “These platforms are, of course, primarily businesses,” he said, “and what is the primary concern of a business? Making a profit. They don’t care if this content or that content causes harm for the people at whom it is directed.”
At the same time, Putin said, “we must not make decisions that would limit human freedoms – the freedom of choice and freedom of speech.”
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