Russian lawmakers passed legislation imposing severe punishment in which one can face imprisonment for up to five years if convicted for spreading false information about coronavirus. And if false information leads to death of any person or any huge consequences he would face a fine of up to $25,000.
The law also anticipates the punishment of three years of imprisonment and a fine up to $20,000 for affecting a person's health by spreading false humour. Besides, the legislation aims to impose tough punishment for people not following quarantine rules. One can face imprisonment for up to seven years for breaking quarantine rule.
President Vladimir Putin signed it into the law on March 31 after being passed by Federation Council, the upper house of Russia a day before. The amendment in Criminal Code of Russia was proposed by Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Lower House State Duma and Pavel Krasheninnikov, a senior lawmaker of United Russia party.
Situation in Russia
There have been 7,500 cases confirmed and 58 people died due to coronavirus in Russia so far. The country recorded a jump of almost 1,000 cases on Monday as Moscow is the epicentre of the pandemic with more than 5,000 people infected. Authorities issued a lockdown on March 30 to contain the spread of virus amongst more than 12 million people in Moscow. "The situation is certainly serious and everyone should take this very seriously," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
A man was also arrested recently for shooting five people for talking loudly during coronavirus lockdown. According to TASS, he was arrested over the weekend after having an argument with his neighbours for asking them not to be loud while standing at his balcony.
"The man allegedly asked a group of four young men and a girl flocking near the house not to be that loud," Russian Investigative Committee stated. All the five died instantly after being shot by licensed gun by the man. During the interrogation, the man confessed the crime saying that he acted in self-defence.
