Russia Toughens Legislation: Russia toughens legislation used to crack down on opponents – Times of India
MOSCOW: Russian lawmakers on Tuesday adopted amendments toughening penalties for criminal charges that have been used to silence critics, including introducing a possible life sentence for high treason.
The move came a day after Kremlin critic and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges including treason over criticism of the Ukraine offensive.
The amendments increase the maximum possible penalty for “high treason” from 20 years to life imprisonment.
Since Putin sent troops to Ukraine over a year ago, Russian authorities have intensified a crackdown on opposition voices.
Almost all of the Kremlin’s major opponents have either fled the country or are in jail.
The amendments also increase penalties for “terrorism” and sabotage.
Russia’s top opposition politician Alexei Navalny — currently serving a nine-year prison sentence — was last year added to the government’s list of “terrorists and extremists”.
The Duma, the lower house of parliament, also moved to penalise “assistance in executing the decisions of international organisations in which Russia does not participate, or foreign government agencies”.
The new charges — which come after the International Criminal Court last month issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin — will be punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to monitoring group OVD-Info, the text of the article is “very broad” and could penalise “facilitating the execution of judicial decisions as well as the investigation of war crimes”.
Russian troops have been accused of multiple atrocities during Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
The bill will need the approval of the upper house of parliament and Putin’s signature before it becomes law.
The move came a day after Kremlin critic and opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in jail on charges including treason over criticism of the Ukraine offensive.
The amendments increase the maximum possible penalty for “high treason” from 20 years to life imprisonment.
Since Putin sent troops to Ukraine over a year ago, Russian authorities have intensified a crackdown on opposition voices.
Almost all of the Kremlin’s major opponents have either fled the country or are in jail.
The amendments also increase penalties for “terrorism” and sabotage.
Russia’s top opposition politician Alexei Navalny — currently serving a nine-year prison sentence — was last year added to the government’s list of “terrorists and extremists”.
The Duma, the lower house of parliament, also moved to penalise “assistance in executing the decisions of international organisations in which Russia does not participate, or foreign government agencies”.
The new charges — which come after the International Criminal Court last month issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin — will be punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to monitoring group OVD-Info, the text of the article is “very broad” and could penalise “facilitating the execution of judicial decisions as well as the investigation of war crimes”.
Russian troops have been accused of multiple atrocities during Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.
The bill will need the approval of the upper house of parliament and Putin’s signature before it becomes law.
For all the latest world News Click Here
Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
