The Government Commission on Legislative Activity has considered an initiative that actually brings down pilots and flight attendants suspected of extremism from the sky to the ground.
As Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, explained, it is proposed to supplement the Air Code with provisions according to which it will be prohibited to accept citizens included in the list of persons in respect of whom there is information about their involvement in extremist activities or terrorism.
"This list is formed by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service. The basis for including a person in this list is, first of all, bringing to criminal responsibility under articles of the Criminal Code punishing terrorist or extremist crimes," Vladimir Gruzdev explained.
He said that this list, in particular, includes those convicted of publicly justifying terrorism or propaganda of terrorism, public calls to carry out extremist activities, public calls to carry out actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.
"Thus, publications in social networks that violate the law, including those aimed at inciting hatred or enmity, as well as humiliation of human dignity, will make a career in the airline impossible for the violator. He will not be able to work as a pilot or a flight attendant. The initiative is aimed at implementing the requirements of the standards and recommended practices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in terms of ensuring the protection of civil aviation from acts of unlawful interference," Vladimir Gruzdev summed up.
Meanwhile, as experts explain, this list also includes defendants in criminal cases on the facts of terrorism and extremism. To add a person to the Rosfinmonitoring list, a procedural decision on recognizing a person as a suspect under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code is sufficient. If the charges are dropped or acquitted, the person will be excluded from the list. But while he will officially be in the status of a suspect, he will not be able to fly.
Vladislav Kulikov
