A few days earlier, the State Duma had adopted, on first reading, a law under which authorities would be held more accountable for acts of torture. This concept will be more precisely defined in State legislation.
A new provision will be added to the draft law “On Excess of Official Authority” (Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). From now on, law enforcement officers whose guilt of committing torture is proven will be subject to a penalty of imprisonment from 4 to 12 years. At the same time, TASS points out in its materials that those involved in the cases will be deprived of the right “to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 10 years”.
The innovations were initiated by Pavel Krasheninnikov and Andrei Klishas, heads of the State Duma and Federation Council committees on legislation. The document formulates a definition of torture that is consistent with the “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.” According to Krasheninnikov, the detailed definition of torture makes it possible to give a fair punishment regarding the qualification of the perpetrator’s act. “The purpose of torture includes intimidation as a way to control the personality of a prisoner or to force another person to commit any act under the threat of torture”, – the Duma deputy clarified.
In the current version of the Criminal Code, only investigators and interrogators can be held liable under Article 302 “Compulsion of testimony”. After the new draft law is approved, officers of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service will also be able to be held criminally liable.
Pavel Krasheninnikov argues that “law-enforcement officers have enough power to effectively combat crime and maintain order in places of detention. He called the failure to competently dispose of these powers “an ugly phenomenon” which the new law will eventually seek to eliminate.
