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| Otherwise you won't be able to reach it. What and from whom will be confiscated for fakes about the Russian Armed Forces |
| 2024-01-23 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Oleg Krivoshapov [REGNUM] On January 22, a bill was introduced to the State Duma, which proposes to introduce into the Criminal Code the possibility of confiscation of property for fakes about the Russian Armed Forces and public calls aimed against the security of the state. The initiative is collective - 395 deputies are listed as authors. It is proposed to tighten sanctions under the new article of the Criminal Code 207.3 on liability for the dissemination of knowingly false information about the army. The article was introduced in March 2022. Now the maximum penalty for it is up to five years in prison (parts 1 and 2) or up to 15 years in case of grave consequences (part 3). But in all cases - without confiscation. The new bill talks about “the need to punish scoundrels, including cultural figures who support the Nazis, pour dirt on our country, soldiers and officers participating in the Northern Military District,” explained State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. Strict standards will not affect “ordinary people who wrote something in correspondence with each other,” but will affect unscrupulous “bloggers who are trying to give any information in the name of their earnings,” MP Alexey Chepa assured. The bill will allow the confiscation of money, valuables or other property used to finance crimes against the security of Russia, as well as the deprivation of honorary titles by court decision. In addition to the actual fakes about the army, it is proposed to confiscate property for public calls for extremist activity, demands to impose sanctions against Russia and for the rehabilitation of Nazism. At the same time, the law will not have retroactive effect, clarified the head of the Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov. The bill has already received a positive response from the government; Krasheninnikov’s committee recommended adopting the document in the first reading. This could happen as early as January 24th. The Kremlin is not ready to comment on the bill while the people’s representatives are working with it, noted the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov. Earlier, the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, reported that in 2023 his department opened 90 criminal cases for false reports about the Russian Armed Forces, and since the introduction of criminal liability for such acts (in March 2022) - 273 cases. WITHOUT RETROACTIVE EFFECT AND ONLY FOR SELF-INTEREST According to current legislation, not all of a convicted person’s property can be confiscated. Only that which was obtained as a result of committing a crime or was used to finance extremist (as well as terrorist) activities is subject to confiscation. IA Regnum was reminded of this by the former investigator for particularly important cases of the main investigative department of the Investigative Committee at the prosecutor’s office, lawyer Andrei Grivtsov. The illegal acts outlined in the new bill are not in all cases committed for selfish reasons, the interlocutor noted. “ But if accused of such acts committed out of selfish interest, confiscation will become possible if the law is adopted, ” explained Grivtsov. “ And the prospect of adoption of the law, taking into account such a wide public announcement, is extremely high.” The new law will primarily affect well-known public figures who, having gone abroad, “throw mud at Russia and, therefore, commit a crime under current legislation,” a member of the presidium of the National Anti-Corruption Committee (NAC), a former senior investigator for special crimes, told IA Regnum. important matters Pavel Zaitsev. And since they, owning property in Russia, are mainly in unfriendly countries, there is no hope that they will be extradited to the Russian femida. “They still felt complete impunity. The state, I believe, wanting there to be as few of these as possible, decided to show everyone that they were wrong, ” the expert argues. “ From the moment the law comes into force, in any case, all actions specified in it will be subject to confiscation of property, even if it does not have retroactive effect.” But there were precedents when the adopted law acquired retroactive force, the lawyer claims. In the case of the new bill, this is unlikely, but “theoretically possible.” At the same time, it is extremely important that the new bill, which has a powerful political component, works effectively and is applied extremely carefully, says Kirill Vyshinsky, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights. “If this is a weapon, then it must be highly accurate,” the HRC member emphasizes. “STICKING THEIR TONGUE OUT” TO SOCIETY AND THE STATE In practice, this law will be selective and is unlikely to affect law-abiding citizens of Russia, lawyer Zaitsev is convinced. “Everyone has already made their choice - who is for it, who is against it, ” he argues. “ Those who are committing crimes against Russia now have already left. And it will be mainly those who are visible who will commit new acts.” And strict measures should indeed be applied to them, emphasized Candidate of Legal Sciences Janis Juksha in a commentary to IA Regnum. The Criminal Code punishes quite harshly, including persons who disseminate deliberately false information about the army and call for violating the integrity of Russia. As noted above, if certain qualifying criteria are met, you can get up to 15 years in prison, the lawyer notes. But not always. “Today, a huge number of scammers have proliferated, who are even ready to serve three years and be released on parole and in the end not give up 20, 50 or even 100 million, often stolen, in order to end up with money, ” Yuksha points out. “ Therefore, the property issue is very important.” He also notes that citizens who discredit Russia are, in fact, mostly located far beyond the borders of our country and it is very difficult to apply effective punishment against them. “They stick their tongue out at our society and our law enforcement system, but often own property on Russian territory and receive income from this property, ” the expert notes. “ In this regard, the punishment for them can be much more effective if their property can be confiscated.” From this point of view, property liability is completely justified, Yuksha concludes. Moreover, it has an obvious preventive component, the lawyer is sure. The new norm will cool the ardor of the most zealous “fighters against the regime” who betrayed the interests of their country. The entry into force of the new law will likely force many of them to think about the consequences of their choices. |
| Posted by:badanov |