Member of the Federation Council Lyudmila Narusova submitted to the State Duma a draft law on tougher penalties for torture. She told RIA Novosti about this.
Photo: Federation Council
Narusova proposes to amend the law «On the detention of suspects and accused of committing crimes», as well as the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of the Russian Federation.
Torture is defined in the draft law as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person in order to obtain information or a confession from him or a third person, to punish him for an act that he or a third person has committed, or for any reason based on discrimination of any nature.”
The bill provides for the introduction of article 286.2 (“Use of torture”) into the Criminal Code. For the use of torture, it is proposed to establish a punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of three to ten years.
“The use of torture <…> by a state official or other person acting in an official capacity, or at their instigation, or with their knowledge or tacit consent, it is proposed to punish with imprisonment for a term of three to ten years, ”RIA Novosti quotes the bill.
If weapons or special means were used during torture, as well as a crime was committed by a group of persons, or with special cruelty, or against two or more people, then punishment is provided in the form of imprisonment for a term of five to 15 years. The explanatory note to the bill states that it is necessary to establish criminal liability for the use of torture as an independent crime and consider it as a serious crime.
Narusova also proposed amending the Code of Criminal Procedure. She wants to prohibit recognition of confessions obtained under torture as reliable.
“More radical measures are needed to suppress them, a serious turnaround is needed, including through a change in attitudes towards criminal liability for torture,” the explanatory note also notes. note.