Despite media reports claiming that Russia’s
Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin will challenge the ban on the
"Innocence of Muslims" film he is not going to do it, according to a posting
on his website.
"During the hearings we spoke about a
shortage of competitiveness in such hearings as an important procedural
problem. But this has nothing to do with the assessment of the content of the
"Innocence of Muslims" film," the posting says.
Meanwhile, President of the Chechen Republic
has regarded the ban as positive sigh for Russia. “It’s a good example of a
civilized approach to resolving the problem,” he said in a posting on his press
service web-site. “General Prosecutor’s
office and the [Moscow]
court demonstrated their vigor to withstand any attempts of breeding strife
between citizens of the country on national and religious basis.”
Yesterday, a Moscow district court found the film “Innocence
of Muslims” to be extremist and thereby approved a petition from the General
Prosecutor’s office, which had argued that the film sows religious discord and
provokes increased intolerance in society.
Marina Gridneva, official spokesperson for
the General Prosecutor’s office, told RBC that the petition was made because
the film includes video sequences and dialogue which imply that Islam and
Muslims are inferior.
“A psychological and linguistic study of
the film carried out at the request of the General Prosecutor’s office
confirmed that its content is intended to provoke religious hatred and
humiliate people on the basis of their ethnicity and religious affiliation,”
Gridneva noted.
The court’s decision will now be sent to
the Russian Ministry of Justice, which will include the video on its federal
list of extremist materials.
The Leninsky district court in Grozny, Chechnya
had previously found a trailer for the film to be extremist.
Under Russia law, such a decision by any
court to ban extremist material automatically comes into effect throughout the
entire country. At the same time, other Russian courts are also entitled to
take decisions concerning such petitions by the Prosecutor’s Office. In the case
of conflicting verdicts, the matter is resolved by the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile service providers in some Russian
regions put a temporary ban on access to YouTube last week on the basis of a
letter from the Prosecutor’s Office.
Google’s Russian division has already
stated that it’s prepared to block access to the film on YouTube as soon as it
receives an instruction from a court to do so.
“Innocence of Muslims” was released at the
beginning of September and featured content many Muslims found offensive. The
film sparked a series of worldwide anti-American protests. The video is already
blocked in a number of countries, including Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sudan,
Egypt, Libya and Malaysia.
