A bill has been introduced to the State Duma that toughens the punishment for organizing an armed rebellion or participating in it (Article 279 of the Criminal Code). The document was published in the database of the lower house of parliament.
Deputies propose to raise the lower limit of punishment for organizing or leading an armed rebellion from 12 to 15 years in prison. The maximum penalty will remain the same — 20 years in prison.
The law is proposed to be supplemented with the second and third parts — on participation in an armed rebellion and on organizing or participating in a rebellion that resulted in the death of a person or other grave consequences.
For the second part, the punishment will be from 12 to 20 years in prison, for the third — up to life imprisonment.
In addition, the deputies propose adding a note to the article on treason (275 of the Criminal Code) providing for the possibility of exemption from criminal liability for armed rebellion if “the person, by voluntary and timely reporting to the authorities or otherwise contributed to the prevention of further damage” .
The case of armed rebellion on June 23, 2023 was brought against the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin. The rebellion of the Wagnerites against the military leadership of Russia lasted about a day. The mercenaries, without noticeable resistance, captured military installations in Rostov-on-Don, marched to Moscow and did not reach the capital by about 200 km. On June 27, the case was dropped because “the participants stopped actions directly aimed at committing the crime.”