MOSCOW, November 11 (RAPSI) – The State Duma on Wednesday adopted in both the second and third reading a bill submitted by President Vladimir Putin that would ban  declaring the sacred texts of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism extremist, RIA Novosti reported.

According to Russia’s Constitution, everyone is guaranteed freedom of conscience and religion. Therefore, the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, Kanjur, their content and quotations may not be labeled as extremist, the bill states.

Lawmaker Sergei Popov (United Russia) said the bill was supported by all political parties. 

On August 12, a judge of the Far Eastern city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk declared extremist the book “Plea (Dua) to God: Its Role and Place in Islam”. The book was printed and released on request of The Spiritual Muslim Board of the Asiatic part of Russia. A judge agreed with a prosecutor who said that the book calls for terrorism and kidnapping. This ruling became controversial because legal status of some verses from the Quran was questioned as well.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov earlier called on holding the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Court judge and prosecutor liable for their decision. On November 5, the Sakhalin Regional Court granted an appeal submitted by Kadyrov seeking to revoke a lower court’s ruling that labeled as extremist a book containing quotes and commentary on verses from the Quran.

Marina Gridneva, a representative of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, said legal issues concerned with declaring religious books extremist should be reviewed within a legal context.