Last year, the Russian parliament passed a record number of 653 bills, most of which concerned criminal code. That's according to the Russian independent news site Mediazona, which has analyzed all the changes in the law together with the human rights organization No to torture.

"The changes made to the penal code in 2022 make it possible to call that year the most repressive in Russia's modern history," said Elena Yurishina, an analyst at the organization No to Torture.

The repressions began long before the war

According to the organization No to Torture, the Russian criminal code began to move in the wrong direction already in 2012. Before that, the country was steadily on the path of democratization where citizens had many rights and opportunities to scrutinize the legal system.

"In 1996, when Russia was ready to join the Council of Europe, it was open to democracy and changed many laws that would be in line with the way things were in Europe. And that trend continued until 2012," says Elena Yurishina.

However, in the year when Putin was re-elected as president and huge protests broke out in the country, the criminal code began to change dramatically to silence citizens. Among other things, a law was introduced on foreign agents who could appoint an organization or person who opposed power in Russia as a foreign agent.

Hundreds prosecuted under the new laws

Since the start of the war, nearly 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia for anti-war protests. Today, more than 500 people are charged under the new laws passed last year and many more are awaiting prosecution. This is according to the Russian human rights organization OVD-Info.

The law most frequently used to prosecute Russian citizens protesting against the Russian state is spreading false information about the Russian army. Opposition politician Ilya Yashin is one of nearly 100 people already charged under that law.

See more examples in the video above.

Seven bizarre verdicts in Russia

  • Alexei Gorinov

    38 sec

  • Irina Gen

    24 sec

  • Dmitry Ivanov

    21 sec

  • Maria Ponomarenko

    30 sec

  • Oleg Belousov

    36 sec

  • Vladimir Zavjalov

    31 sec

  • Vladimir Rumyantsev

    27 sec