MOSCOW, October 14 (RAPSI) – Chief of the State Duma committee on ecology and environmental management Vladimir Burmatov has submitted a bill envisaging pretrial blocking of online content containing scenes of cruelty to animals to the lower house of Russian parliament.

The document’s version has been published on the State Duma official database.

According to Burmatov, this measure must be adopted because Russia is one of the main international providers of such content. The bill has been drafted in cooperation with animal advocates.

The draft law is aimed to suppress distribution of all information that may harm mental health of people, including minors, on the Internet.

However, the introduction of such restriction mechanism will not substitute legal proceedings related to investigation into criminal cases over cruelty to animals, the bill’s author believes. If signs of the crime are found, law enforcement will be notified of this, according to Burmatov.

In May, the initiative was backed by the government.