Court of Information Disputes under the President of the Russian Federation

The Decree of the President of October 29, 1993 No. 1792 approved the Regulation on informational guarantees of the election campaign, formed for the period of the 1993 election campaign (election of deputies of the Council of the Federation and the State Duma on December 12, 1993 ), the Arbitration Information Court provided for in the Regulation was established and its composition was approved ( the court elected from among its members the President of the Court and the Registrar of the Court).

The arbitration information court was formed with the aim of resolving the most complex disputes caused by non-compliance with the editorial offices of the media, journalists, presenters, candidates, election associations and election commissions of the requirements of the legislation for covering the election campaign in the media.

By his decree of December 31, 1993 No. 2335, the President of the Russian Federation decided to consider the Arbitration Information Court to cease his powers on December 31, 1993 due to the end of the 1993 election campaign and to create a permanent Judicial Chamber for Information Disputes under the President of the Russian Federation (the composition approved by the same decree chambers).

By presidential decree of January 31, 1994 No. 228, the Regulation on the Trial Chamber for Information Disputes under the President of the Russian Federation was approved. According to the Regulation, the main task of the chamber is to assist the President of the Russian Federation in the effective implementation of the constitutional powers of the guarantor of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests in the field of mass media enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation .

By Presidential Decree No. 1013 of June 3, 2000, the Judicial Chamber for Information Disputes under the President of the Russian Federation was liquidated.

Composition of the Arbitration Information Court:

1. Vengerov Anatoly Borisovich - Head of the Department of Theory of State and Law of the Moscow State Law Academy, Doctor of Law , Professor
2. Voinov Alexey Evgenievich - student of the School of Mass Media Law
3. Ezhelev Anatoly Stepanovich - Chairman of the St. Petersburg Union of Journalists, member of the International Commission on Radio and Television Policy
4. Igor Eremin - member of the Media Committee of the former Supreme Council of the Russian Federation
5. Kopeika Alexander Konstantinovich - member of the Media Committee of the former Supreme Council of the Russian Federation
6. Monakhov Victor Nikolaevich - Head of the State Inspectorate for the Protection of Freedom of the Press and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Legal Sciences (Regional) ( Arkhangelsk Region , Tver Region , Murmansk Region , Novgorod Region , Pskov Region , Leningrad Region , St. Petersburg )
7. Panyarskaya Maryana Viktorovna - student of the School of Mass Media Law
8. Simonov Alexey Kirillovich - Chairman of the Board of the Glasnost Defense Fund
9. Sukhomlinov Vladimir Valentinovich - First Deputy Chairman of the International Confederation of Journalistic Unions

Composition of the Trial Chamber for Information Disputes under the President of the Russian Federation:

1. Vengerov Anatoly Borisovich - Chairman of the Trial Chamber (Chairman of the Arbitration Information Court, Doctor of Law, Professor)
2. Eremin Igor Yuryevich - Deputy Chairman of the Trial Chamber (member of the Arbitration Information Court)
3. Ivanov Igor Vyacheslavovich - Chief Specialist of the Department of Electoral Arbitration and Preparation of Normative Documents of the Central Election Commission
4. Kopeyka Alexander Konstantinovich - member of the Arbitration Information Court
5. Monakhov Victor Nikolaevich - member of the Arbitration Information Court, candidate of legal sciences
6. Panyarskaya Maryana Viktorovna - member of the Arbitration Information Court
7. Feofanov Yuri Vasilievich - editor-in-chief of the journal Zakon

By presidential decree of June 19, 1996 No. 945, Mishustina Larisa Pavlovna was appointed a member of the chamber.

By presidential decree of June 30, 1997 No. 650, Ivanov Igor Vyacheslavovich was relieved of his duties as a member of the chamber.

By presidential decree of May 31, 1999 No. 681, Mikhail Alexandrovich Melnikov was appointed a member of the chamber.

By presidential decree of July 30, 1999 No. 919, Yeremin Igor Yuryevich was relieved of his post as deputy chairman of the chamber.

By presidential decree of July 30, 1999 No. 920, Viktor Nikolayevich Monakhov was appointed deputy chairman of the chamber.

By presidential decree of January 14, 2000 No. 33 Panyarskaya Maryana Viktorovna was relieved of her duties as a member of the chamber.

By Presidential Decree of February 25, 2000 No. 439, Mishustina Larisa Pavlovna was relieved of her post and was appointed referent of the President of the Russian Federation .

By presidential decree of February 25, 2000 No. 440, Twin Anatolyevich was appointed a member of the chamber.

Non-systemic journalists believe that the creation of the chamber is the most radical attempt to restrict freedom of speech in the Yeltsin era. And although the function of the Trial Chamber de jure was to assist the President in exercising the constitutional powers of the guarantor of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests in the field of mass media enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, in fact the group of Yeltsin’s “liberal” libels, headed by functionary Yury Baturin, tried to prevent objective consecration of events in Chechnya. In many provisions, the charter of the SPPI was reminiscent of the draft law “On the Press” that appeared in 1987 and was prepared by the Central Committee of the CPSU. Information about him then leaked into society, and in the wake of Perestroika, he then provoked sharp protests. The press appeared replicas "This is a planned cleansing of the information area" ^[1] . Although, using administrative levers, members of the SPPI actually forced journalists to sing praises to their department.

Any criticism of the new reviewers was harshly suppressed ^[2] : with the help of the prosecutor’s office, obstinate journalists were simply imprisoned. SPPI began with non-biased publications. Already in March, Kommersant wrote:

The Presidential Court of Information Disputes at its next session examined and evaluated some publications of the weekly New Look, which is edited by the famous journalist Yevgeny Dodolev . As noted by the Trial Chamber press release, in a number of New Look publications, " legal and generally recognized ethical standards are grossly violated." The Trial Chamber found that “these publications constitute a direct threat to the moral interests of childhood and adolescence” ^[3] .

The Krasnopresnenskaya prosecutor opened a criminal case. A year later, another criminal case was instituted against the publication of the “anti-Chechen” publication of Glory Mogutin in the same “New Vzglyad” with the filing of the SPPS; under another article (“inciting hatred”): the writer was forced to emigrate to the United States ^[4] , where he guardianship took journalistic and human rights organizations.

The elimination of SPIS does not mean, however, that implicit censorship in the Russian Federation has been abolished.