A new text of amendments on deprivation of citizenship of those convicted of terrorism and extremism has been introduced to the State Duma

The authors of the new bill specified the mechanism for canceling the decision to acquire citizenship.

On April 21, 2017, a new text of the bill on the deprivation of citizenship of those convicted of terrorism and extremism was submitted to the State Duma. Its authors were Vyacheslav Volodin, Vladimir Vasiliev, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Gennady Zyuganov, Sergei Mironov, Ivan Melnikov, Igor Lebedev, Irina Yarovaya, Pavel Krasheninnikov and Mikhail Yemelyanov.

The new text of the amendments clarifies the grounds for canceling the decision to acquire citizenship (Article 22 of the federal law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation"). It is proposed to assume that if the purpose of acquiring citizenship was to carry out activities that pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation, then this means that the applicant has provided deliberately false information regarding the obligation to comply with the Constitution and Russian legislation (paragraph "b" of Article 13 of the law).

The draft law states that "such information means the commission of at least one of the crimes" (preparation for a crime, attempted crime) under Art. 205 and 205.1, part 2 of Art. 205.2, art. 205.3-205.5, 206, 208, part 4 of Art. 211, art. 281, 282.1-282.3 and 361 of the Criminal Code, as well as at least one of the crimes (preparation for a crime or attempted crime), as well as Art. 277 - 279 and 360 of the Criminal Code in the event that their commission is associated with carrying out terrorist activities (recall that, according to the law on combating terrorism, this refers to a wide range of activities covered by the anti-terrorist articles of the Criminal Code).

It is still proposed to establish the fact of the use of forged documents or the communication of knowingly false information in court, however, in the situation described above, a court verdict that has entered into force under the relevant article of the Criminal Code is equated to this procedure. To do this, the courts will have to refer these sentences to the authorities in charge of citizenship cases.

Thus, compared with the previous version of the bill ( introduced to the State Duma on April 19 and withdrawn on April 20), both the mechanism for the termination of citizenship and the list of criminal articles, the conviction of which is considered the basis for the termination of citizenship, have changed. Part 1 of Art. 205.2 (public justification of terrorism, with the exception of those committed in the media and the Internet), art. 205.6 (failure to report a crime), part 1 1-3 art. 211 (hijacking of transport, not associated with a terrorist act), Art. 220 and 221 (handling of nuclear materials and radioactive substances), Art. 280 (public calls for extremist activity), as well as - in cases that are not associated with terrorist activity - Art. 277 (attempt on the life of a statesman), Art. 278 (forcible seizure of power), Art. 279 (armed rebellion), Art. 360 of the Criminal Code (attack on internationally protected persons). At the same time, Art. 281 of the Criminal Code (sabotage).

It should be noted that the draft law has been amended in order to eliminate direct inconsistencies with the Constitution. The new version explicitly applies only to those who acquired citizenship only after they submitted the relevant application, and did not receive it at birth. In addition, now it is proposed to deprive citizenship not for acts committed after its acquisition, but precisely for reporting false information about the obligations assumed. However, a criminal conviction relating to a crime committed after someone acquired citizenship does not by itself prove that the convicted person had the intent to commit that crime at the time of filing the citizenship application. An acceptable basis could be considered only a court decision, which established that such intent arose before that moment.

We emphasize that, among other things, it is still proposed to deprive people of their citizenship convicted under a number of articles of the Criminal Code, under which, from our point of view, in Russia often handing down wrongful sentences. We are talking about Part 2 of Art. 205.2, art. 282.2 and 205.5 (on involvement in the activities of extremist and terrorist organizations) and cases of application of Art. 278 in combination with "terrorist" articles.

In our opinion, if the bill is passed, it may serve as a new source of abuse of measures to combat extremism and terrorism and contribute to further restricting the rights of migrants in Russia, the practice of depriving them of their citizenship actually already exists.

Sources

• Bill No. 156692-7. On Amending Articles 22 and 38 of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" // Automated system for ensuring the legislative activities of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. 2017. April 21.