The president did not leave "torture"

Based on the results of a meeting with the HRC, Vladimir Putin pointed out the need to tighten the punishment for torture, and also instructed to mitigate the legislation on “foreign agents”

The presidential website published instructions given to them based on the results of a meeting with the HRC on December 9, 2021. In particular, the Ministry of Justice was entrusted with the Prosecutor General and the HRC to analyze the legislation on the regulation of the activities of NGOs that perform the functions of the “foreign agent”, and the practice of its application, including in terms of exclusion from the register of “foreign agents”. A similar assignment , but with the involvement of Roskomnadzor and the Union of Journalists of Russia, is given in relation to the legislation on the activities of the media that perform the functions of a “foreign agent”.

Experts from the human rights environment and some of the members of the HRC advocate the full abolition of the legislation on “foreign agents”, which, contrary to the conviction of the president, has no analogues in the world, but are ready to work on amendments to the current law while he is in force.

The president recommended the wards of the Federal Assembly to consider the “draft law that clarifies the concept of“ torture ”in accordance with the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading the dignity of the types of circulation and punishment (resolution of the UN General Assembly of December 10, 1984) and establishing an increase in responsibility for the commission by representatives of the authorities of the criminal act with the use of torture.”

This wording differs markedly from the assignment based on the results of the president’s press conference on January 6: if there, the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General’s Office, was streamlined, was streamlined to “prevent the use of illegal methods of influence”, then things are called their proper names. Since the assignment was given directly to the chambers of the Federal Assembly, where on December 11 a bill on torture was introduced in a very mild version and without introducing a separate article on them for them (see No. 8 for January 26), we can conclude that this option did not suit the president and the human rights activists have a chance for the second reading to make a future law on torture more accurate and strict.

The question raised at the meeting on December 9, the content of the rector of Shaninka, Professor Zuev, to which the president immediately gave an unambiguous answer (“I do not see the grounds to keep him in custody under the articles that are charged with”), also found reflection in the instructions, but only in the general form: the Prosecutor General’s Office, together with the Supreme Court, was entrusted with the practice of applying legislation in the units regarding the election of a preventive measure in The form of detention in relation to suspects accused of committing illegal actions of non -violent nature. ”

The problem is that such instructions from the presidents (two) were already given repeatedly,

On their basis, Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was actually made by a direct ban on detaining persons accused of economic crimes, however, the courts still give the investigative bodies of sanction to apply an extreme preventive measure to them, which is the illustration of the “Zuev case”, whose maintenance in jail cannot be considered otherwise than torture (see detailed on the site for January 11).

Based on the results of the meeting with the HRC, you can familiarize yourself with other instructions of the President, including on the Council website.