Alexander Bastrykin spoke out against the abolition of penalties for beating children in the family

Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin opposes the decriminalization of beatings of children, official representative of the department Svetlana Petrenko told Interfax.

According to her, Bastrykin spoke on this topic at a meeting of the Public Council of the Investigative Committee, at which measures to prevent violent crimes against minors were discussed.

“Alexander Bastrykin explained the need to discuss the stated issue by saying that public discussion of the new version of Article 116 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has not subsided for several months,” explained Petrenko. — Partial decriminalization of this criminal law norm led to the fact that beatings committed for the first time were transferred to the category of administrative offenses, and criminal liability was retained for beatings committed against loved ones, including minors, beatings for hooligan reasons or motivated by hatred or hostility towards any social group.”

According to Petrenko, Bastrykin considers beatings against a child, especially a minor, “always a greater evil” than beatings inflicted on an adult who can either stand up for himself or turn to law enforcement agencies.

“The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia emphasized that the state’s reaction to the violent actions of an adult against a minor should not be determined by the circle of people to which this adult belongs, in other words, whether it is a person close to the child or a stranger,” she emphasized. “At the same time, just the other day, a number of deputies and members of the Federation Council introduced a draft law aimed at decriminalizing beatings committed by loved ones to the State Duma.”

“Members of the Public Council paid special attention to the fact that this problem cannot be solved by criminal repression alone; an integrated government approach is needed to ensure effective violence prevention,” concluded the representative of the Investigative Committee.

In July, Senator Elena Mizulina introduced a bill to the State Duma that would abolish criminal penalties for beating family members without harm to health. “Beatings against family members and other close persons should be classified as administrative offenses,” said a statement from Mizulina’s press service. The Government Commission on Legislative Activities did not support the bill.