Controversy around the Criminal Code

At the end of March, controversy around the Russian Criminal Code intensified.

On March 24, 2004, Rossiyskaya Gazeta published a comment by lawyers on proposals to tighten criminal legislation.

In particular, Tamara Morshchakova, a former judge of the Constitutional Court of Russia, believes that critics of the current criminal legislation, who claim that it unleashes the hands of organized crime, "are essentially lying ... defending the criminal law of the Middle Ages . "

In particular, Art. 216 of the Criminal Code, according to which the employer was previously punished for negligently causing harm to the health of employees as a result of safety violations. According to supporters of the new Criminal Code, this article was simply not applied before - the employer was not brought to criminal responsibility, for example, if a beam fell at the plant. Responsibility was borne by lower-level managers. For grievous injuries, both the article and the severe punishment remained (for example, the case of the Transvaal falls under it).

Claims to "soft" penalties for drug trafficking are due to the fact that the Government did not adopt a resolution in time to ensure these norms of the Criminal Code.

Lawyers - "liberals" also comment on other criticisms of specific articles of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, arguing that they all have a clear rationale.

Sources

• Zakatnova Anna. Punitive revenge // Russian newspaper. 2004. March 24.