Ildar Dadin
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Ildar Ildusovich Dadin (, , 14 April 1982 – 5 October 2024) also known by his Gandhi (Ганди) was a Russian opposition activist, accused of violating rules of conducting public demonstrations and hence constantly receiving increased attention from the authorities. He is the first person to spend one year in a penal colony solely for his activism. Dadin was killed by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine, in
Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.
, on 5 October 2024. He was 42.


Activism and imprisonment

According to
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, Ildar Dadin was a "peaceful opposition activist". Dadin attended rallies in support of the
LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...
(he was not LGBT himself) and opposition figurehead
Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...
, was seen holding a banner saying "Putin is an enemy of the people" at anti-government protests, and also took part in a pro-
Maidan Maidan is an originally Persian word for a town square or public gathering place (Persian: ), adopted by various other languages: Urdu (''maidān''); Arabic (''maydān''); Turkish ; Georgian (''moedani''); Bangla ময়দান, meaning f ...
protest, the Peace March. Dadin was arrested on 3 December 2015. He was sentenced to three years in jail by a Moscow court for repeated anti-government street protests. Between August 2014 and January 2015 Dadin was accused of taking part in four one-person pickets on 6 August, 23 August, 13 September and 5 December 2014. According to Russian law, individual protests do not need authorisation. The criminal case was triggered by his participation on 15 January 2015 in action supporting Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg in Moscow's Manezhnaya Square. Dadin was sentenced to 15 days jail for “disobeying the lawful demands of the police”. Before addition of Article 212.1 to Russia's Criminal Code in July 2014 Dadin could be sentenced to pay fine or a suspended prison term. But according to the new Article 212.1, if a court has issued two rulings on administrative offences within 180 days the law opens up a sentence of up to 5 years in a
prison colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer ...
. This was the decision taken by the Basmanny District Court in Moscow and which condemned Dadin to three years in prison. The prosecutor had asked for a shorter sentence of two years. The punishment was later reduced to 2.5 years. Dadin was not allowed to be in the court during the appeal case. He was the first person to be jailed using the law, which was introduced in 2014 and punishes repeated breaches of public assembly rules. Dadin was sent to the prison and labor camp of
Segezha Segezha (; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Segezhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located north of Petrozavodsk on the Segezha River and on the western shore of Lake Vygozero. Population: History The town was ...
. He claimed to be catching mice in his prison cell, with 8 beds for the 11 inmates. Ildar Dadin accused the prison of using torture. He described being hit and beaten by 10 to 12 prison employees at the same time, several times per day, for several days, and later having his head forced down into a toilet. Dadin also said that prison workers had hung him by his handcuffs for half an hour and pulled his underwear down, threatening him with rape if he refused to stop a hunger strike he had begun after being deprived of basic necessities such as soap and toilet paper. The prison confirmed use of force. Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (, ; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat serving as the Kremlin Press Secretary, spokesman for President of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2012.Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
would be informed. Russia's human rights ombudsman
Ella Pamfilova Ella Alexanderovna Pamfilova (; born 12 September 1953) is a Russian politician, former deputy of the State Duma, candidate for president in 2000 and former chairwoman (2004 - 2010) of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Right ...
criticized the excessive severity of the punishment, promising to send a request to the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
. The Presidential Human Rights Council demanded the withdrawal of the article used to imprison Dadin from the Criminal Code. In 2017, the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
ordered Dadin to be freed, and he was released from prison on 26 February. The penal colony directorate issued official apology to Dadin and on 31 May 2017 the court agreed to fulfill the lawsuit in favor of Dadin, paying him 2 million rubles (~ $35,000) for unlawful criminal prosecution.


After release from prison

Ildar Dadin joined the Ukrainian
Sibir Battalion The Sibir Battalion (; ) is a paramilitary group made up of Russian citizens opposed to the Russia under Vladimir Putin, Putin regime. Members of this unit include Russians, Yakuts, and Buryats, who see Ukraine's victory as an opportunity to gai ...
of the Civic Council to fight for Siberian independence in June 2023. Dadin was reported by family and friends to have been killed after his volunteer battalion came under Russian artillery fire while fighting in
Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...
.


"Dadin's scheme"

Ildar Dadin was the first person who was convicted according to new scheme established by the
Russian law The primary and fundamental statement of laws in the Russian Federation is the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Statutes, like the Russian Civil Code and the Russian Criminal Code, are the predominant legal source of Russian laws. Hier ...
which subsequently received his name. The essence of this scheme is that some offence is punishable under the
Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses The Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses () is the administrative offenses law for Russia. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was adopted on December 30, 2001. The Code serves as a comprehensive leg ...
, but second (third, fourth) one, committed during the term of conviction, is punishable under the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
. This scheme was first use in the article 212.1 which was included into the
Criminal Code of Russia The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
on 22 July 2014 when the Federal Law of 21 July 2014 No.258-FZ was officially published. According to the aforementioned article, repeated violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession, or picket entails criminal sanction. The feature of repetition is defined as a committing of the violations provided by the article 20.2 of the
Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses The Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses () is the administrative offenses law for Russia. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was adopted on December 30, 2001. The Code serves as a comprehensive leg ...
by a person who has already been prosecuted more than 2 times (i.e. 3 times minimum) for committing the same violations during the period of 180 days. The constitutionality of such scheme was the subject of
Russian Constitutional Court The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation () is a high court within the judiciary of Russia which is empowered to rule on whether certain laws or presidential decrees are in fact contrary to the Constitution of Russia. Its objective is o ...
's review. Its Ruling of 10 February No.2-P recognised that the provisions of the article 212.1 of the
Criminal Code of Russia The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
don't contradict the
Constitution of Russia The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993 and enacted on 25 December 1993. The latest significant reform occurred in 2020, marked by extensive amendments that altered various sections ...
. In Court's opinion, criminal "corpus delicti with administrative prejudice" doesn't violate the ''non bis in idem'' principle. In doing so, the Court pointed out that, firstly, only violation, at the time of committing of which guilty verdicts on administrative offences cases had already entered into force during the period of 180 days preceding it, can be used as grounds for persecution under the
Criminal Code of Russia The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
, secondly, only violation which by itself was not used as grounds for persecution under the
Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses The Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses () is the administrative offenses law for Russia. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was adopted on December 30, 2001. The Code serves as a comprehensive leg ...
can be used as grounds for persecution under the
Criminal Code of Russia The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
. First condition mentioned by the Constitutional Court was not satisfied in the case of Dadin: at the moment of 5 December 2014 when he participated in procession which subsequently was used as grounds for his criminal persecution, only 1 judgement on administrative offence case had entered into force (judgement of 26 September 2014 which was not appealed); 2 other judgements (of 4 and 23 September 2014) entered into force only on 16 March 2015 when these judgements were upheld by the court of appeal. In this regard, the Presidency of the
Supreme Court of Russia The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation () is a court within the judiciary of Russia and the court of last resort in Russian administrative law, civil law, criminal law and commercial law cases. It also supervises the work of lower courts ...
decided to review his case by its Ruling of 22 February 2017 No.43-P17. After Russian Constitutional Court's Ruling of 10 February No.2-P, many new articles using the "corpus delicti with administrative prejudice" scheme appeared in the text of
Criminal Code of Russia The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
. In doing so, the federal legislator sought to increase a term of conviction of administrative offences and to decrease a minimum number of committed administrative offences required for initiating a criminal prosecution. So, for example,
Russian 2022 war censorship laws On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation are a group of federal laws promulgated by the Russian government during the Russian invasion of Ukraine ...
provide that first call against the use of Russian Armed Forces or the call for sanctions on Russia is punishable under the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, a second one, committed during the term of 1 year, is punishable under the
Criminal Code of the Russian Federation The Russian Criminal Code () is the prime source of the Law of the Russian Federation concerning criminal offences. The 1996 Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (UGKRF) came into force on 1 January 1997. The new Criminal Code replaced the So ...
. The "Dadin's scheme" is negatively perceived by lawyers because it allows to criminally persecute on the grounds of judgements on administrative offences cases where facts are established under the significantly simplified procedure in comparison with procedure provided by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.


See also

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Freedom of assembly in Russia Freedom of assembly in Russia is granted by Article 31 of the Constitution adopted in 1993, where it states that citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to gather peacefully, without weapons, and to hold meetings, rallies, demonst ...
*
Human rights in Russia Russia has consistently been criticized by international organizations and independent domestic media outlets for human rights violations. Some of the most commonly cited violations include deaths in custody, the systemic and widespread use of ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dadin, Ildar 1982 births 2024 deaths Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Russia Political prisoners according to Memorial Russian pro-Ukraine foreign volunteers in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Pro-Ukraine foreign volunteers killed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian LGBTQ rights activists Russian dissidents Russian prisoners and detainees Tatar people of Russia People from Balashikha