The meeting place cannot be prohibited. Or can it be?

This article is dedicated to issues of legislative regulation of the place of public events. The concept of “acceptability” of a place for holding a public event is considered, as well as the principle of proportionality, which is necessary to maintain a balance between the right to freedom of assembly and the rights and freedoms of others. The main object of analysis is the restriction of the right to freedom of assembly by establishing a legislative ban on holding public events in certain places. On this issue, federal laws of the Russian Federation and laws of the majority of the subjects of the Russian Federation, which establish such prohibitions, are analyzed. Based on an analysis of Russian regional legislation, the author proposes the classification of groups of places that are prohibited for holding public events. The lack of equality in the list of places prohibited for public events in the subjects of the Russian Federation is revealed. Also, there is a discrepancy between a number of laws and the positions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. In accordance with these positions, norms that cancel the ban on holding a public event in a certain place if it is held on certain holidays or if this place is actually “specially designated” are recognized as unacceptable. The balance of interests between people taking part in a public event and other persons on the example of an unconditional and absolute prohibition on holding public events on the sidewalks is analyzed. The possibility of achieving goals aimed at imposing a ban on holding public events in certain places, in other ways in accordance with the principle of proportionality, is considered. Attention is drawn to the need for further work on the requirements to recognize the proposal of the public authority to change the location of the public event as justified. The author concludes that it is necessary to narrow the discretion of the subjects of the Russian Federation in setting these prohibitions and suggests options for adjusting federal legislation.

About the author: Arseniy Tomilin – Third-year student, Law Faculty, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.

Citation: Tomilin A. (2018) Mesto vstrechi zapretit' nel'zya. Ili mozhno? [The meeting place cannot be prohibited. Or can it be?]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.27, no.6, pp.117–134. (In Russian).

References

Avak'yan S.A. (2013) Svoboda obshchestvennogo mneniya i konstitutsionno-pravovye garantii ego osushchestvleniya [Freedom of public opinion and constitutional legal guarantees of its implementation]. Konstitutsionnoe i munitsipal'noe pravo, no.1, pp.12–21. (In Russian).

Chikenyova I.V., Gil'mullina D.A. (2013) Pravovye osnovy natsional'noy bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii [Legal foundations of the national security of the Russian Federation]. Izvestiya Orenburgskogo gosudarstvennogo agrarnogo universiteta, no.6, pp.236–238. (In Russian).

Dmitiev Yu.A. (2012) Kommentariy k Federal'nomu zakonu ot 19 iyunya 2004 goda N^o54-FZ “O sobraniyakh, mitingakh, demonstratsiyakh, shestviyakh i piketirovaniyakh” (postateynyy) [Commentary to the Federal Law no.54-FZ of 19 June 2004 “On assemblies, meetings, demonstrations, marches and pickets” (article by article)], Moscow: Yurkompani. (In Russian).

Kondrashev A. (2017) Svoboda sobraniy v Rossii: sistemnye defekty zako­nodatel'stva i politiko-pravovaya praktika [Freedom of assembly in Russia: systemic defects in legislation and political and legal practice]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.26, no.6, pp.24–44. (In Russian).

Nikitina E.E. (2015) Ogranicheniya konstitutsionnykh prav cheloveka zakonodatel'stvom sub'ekta Rossiyskoy Federatsii [Restrictions of constitutional human rights by the legislation of the subject of the Russian Federation]. Zhurnal rossiyskogo prava, no 11, pp.35–48. (In Russian).

Nugaev S.Yu. (2010) Svoboda mirnykh sobraniy [Freedom of peaceful assembly], Moscow: Novaya yustitsiya. (In Russian).

Pashentsev E.N. (2016) Armiya i politika: k prirode voennykh perevorotov v period kholodnoy voyny (1940–1980) [Armies and Politics: the Nature of Military Coups in the Cold War Era (1940–1980)]. Gosudarstvennoe upravlenie. Elektronnyy vestnik, no.56, pp.71–88. (In Russian).

Salenko A.V (2018) Svoboda mirnykh sobraniy v Rossiyskoy Federatsii: neskol'ko tezisov ob aktual'nykh problemakh [Freedom of peaceful assembly in the Russian Federation: several theses on topical issues]. Zhurnal rossiyskogo prava, no.1, pp.118–127. (In Russian).

Shilkin A.M. (2017) Problemy primeneniya zakonodatel'stva o mitingakh, shestviyakh, demonstratsiyakh i piketirovanii [Problems of applying legislation on rallies, processions, demonstrations and picketing: control in modern systems]. Upravlenie v sovremennykh sistemakh, no.5, pp.55–63. (In Russian).

Stukanov A.P., Solov'yova A.K. (2014) Nadzor za zakonnost'yu v sfere pub­lichnykh meropriyatiy [Supervision of the legality of public events]. Zakonnost', no.3, pp.15–20. (In Russian).

Vashkevich A. (2013) Spontannye sobraniya: natsional'noe zakonodatel'­stvo evropeyskikh stran i pretsedentnoe pravo Evropeyskogo Suda po pravam cheloveka [Spontaneous assemblies: national legislation and precedents from the European Court of Human Rights]. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.22, no.2, pp.44–54. (In Russian).