The State Duma in the second reading adopted a bill criticized by human rights activists to toughen punishment for torture by security forces

The State Duma in the second reading adopted a bill to toughen the punishment for torture to 15 years in prison. This was reported on the website of the lower house of parliament.

United Russia members Andrei Klishas and Pavel Krasheninnikov proposed adding new parts to the articles on coercion to testify (Article 302 of the Criminal Code) and abuse of official powers (Article 286 of the Criminal Code). According to the document, the use of torture in the commission of these crimes will be punishable by up to 12 years in prison. In the event that torture led to the death of a person, the accused will face up to 15 years of actual imprisonment.

In addition, the authors of the bill proposed expanding Part 3 of the article on “exceeding authority” (Article 286 of the Criminal Code) and adding clauses on the commission of a crime by a group of persons, against a minor and “out of selfish or personal interest.”

Previously, the bill was criticized by the Committee Against Torture, Public Verdict, the Memorial human rights center, the Civic Assistance Committee, the Moscow Helsinki Group and other human rights organizations and lawyers. In their opinion, torture should be included in a separate article of the criminal code.

“The logic is proposed that there is a certain official authority that contains the risk of turning into torture. However, Russian law enforcement agencies do not have such powers, and the use of this essentially surrogate article of the Criminal Code [on “excess of authority”] now is a consequence of hopelessness,” the human rights activists said in their appeal.