Andrey Rylkov Foundation Fined 800,000 Rubles for Publishing Newspaper for Drug Users

The Zyuzinsky District Court has fined the Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice 800,000 rubles under the article on promoting drug use (Part 1 of Article 6.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The case was initiated due to the publication of an issue of the newspaper for people who use drugs, “Shlyapa i Bayan,” on the foundation’s website. Sarang emphasizes that the foundation does not publish this newspaper, but only shares it.

The issue that led to the fine discussed harm reduction when using salts. The publication was discovered by employees of the Moscow drug control prevention department. An expert review, conducted at their request, found in the article “information about methods of illegal use of narcotic substances,” which was deemed to “pose a threat to narcological safety” and therefore could not be publicly accessible. At the end of August, Roskomnadzor blocked four pages on the foundation’s website, including the page with the “Shlyapa i Bayan” issue.

The foundation disagreed with the violation and requested the case be dismissed, citing a lack of intent to promote drugs and inadmissible evidence in the case. However, the court denied their request.

The Andrey Rylkov Foundation was established in 2009. In addition to harm reduction programs, the organization provides legal protection for the rights of people who use drugs. In June 2016, the Ministry of Justice included the foundation in the register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a “foreign agent.”

Previously, the Andrey Rylkov Foundation was already fined 50,000 rubles for linking to material from an undesirable organization published on their website in 2011. Notably, the organization in question was only recognized as undesirable by the Prosecutor General’s Office four years after the link was posted.