Anti-Soviet agitation
Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) (Антисоветская агитация и пропаганда (АСА)) was a criminal offence in Soviet Union. According to article article 58.10 of RSFSR Penal Code that acted during the period of Stalinism, "propaganda and agitation that called to overturn or undermining of the Soviet power" was punishable with at least 6 moths of imprisonment and up to death sentence in the periods of war or unrest. Since 1958 the RSFSR Penal Code was significantly revised. Its language was changed closer to the Western legal norms. Article 58.10 was implemented by a separate Article 70 Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. This article was the most common tool in fighting Soviet dissidents until the appearance of even more lax Article 1901 Dissemination of knowlingly false fabrications that defame the Soviet state and social system (1967). Any critique of the Soviet government or events in the Soviet Union were easily classified as ASA. Dissemination of any information which was not officially recognized was classified as "dissemination of falsehood".
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