On April 18, the State Duma adopted in the second and third readings amendments to the Law “On Citizenship”, which allow the deprivation of citizenship acquired for “discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces, participation in undesirable organizations, desertion, calls to violate the territorial integrity of the country and extremism. Human rights activist and president of the Civic Assistance Committee* Svetlana Gannushkina* is convinced that the law is unconstitutional.
“(The draft constitution) is not in conformity. The sixth article – a citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be deprived of his citizenship and the right to change it. Since this chapter refers to the foundations of the constitutional order, the foundations of the constitutional order are thereby violated. The Constitutional Court, in my opinion, should have stopped this,” Gannushkina* said in a conversation with Russian media.
The human rights activist did not exclude that, despite the contradiction with the fundamental law of the country, the initiative approved by the deputies of the State Duma could be adopted by the Federation Council and signed by the president, “because nobody takes anything into account anymore. “According to Gannushkina, it can be assumed that the constitutional system in Russia has already been changed.
“It means there will be a sequel: for example, people will first be recognized as foreign agents, then they will be deprived of citizenship, such an idea already exists. Under the Constitution, however whose citizenship is acquired, people have the same rights. Therefore, in principle, it is impossible to solve the problem in this way. The rights and obligations of Russian citizens do not depend on the method of acquiring citizenship – c “is one of the tenets. Otherwise it turns out there are first-class citizens, second-class citizens, third-class citizens, etc.” male.
The Law “On Citizenship” was proposed by Vladimir Putin in December 2021, and in March 2022 the President introduced amendments on the possibility of depriving acquired citizenship.
By law, citizenship of the Russian Federation is one and equal, regardless of how it was acquired – by birth or for other reasons. Article 6 of the Russian Constitution guarantees that a Russian citizen “cannot be deprived of his nationality or the right to change it”.
At the same time, in the new version of the law adopted by the State Duma, deprivation of acquired citizenship is allowed for:
violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation; public calls for war; rehabilitation of Nazism; calls for restrictions on the Russian Federation; attack on the life of a statesman or public figure; sabotage and assistance to sabotage activities; desertion; the creation of an NPO that undermines the personality and rights of citizens; discredit the armed forces of the Russian Federation; drug trafficking offences.
*registered by the Ministry of Justice in the register of foreign agents
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
