The State Duma adopted in the third and final reading a bill on life sentences for high treason. Now the criminal article provides for a sentence of 12 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 rubles. The number of convictions in such cases has increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine .
The document also strengthens criminal liability under the articles on sabotage and terrorism and establishes penalties for facilitating the execution of decisions of international organizations in which Russia does not participate – from the wording it follows that, for example, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir, can recognize Putin as such.
MEPs propose increasing the maximum period for committing acts of terrorism to 20 years instead of the maximum 15 years provided for by current legislation. The article on aiding terrorist activities proposes to increase the minimum threshold from five to seven years in prison and to increase the minimum sentence for aiding terrorism from 10 to 12 years. The penalty for participating in a terrorist community is also increased. Now under this article can face 10 to 15 years in prison.
The sanction provided for by the penal article on sabotage is getting tougher. From now on, actions aimed at damaging the transport and life support infrastructure of the population can incur up to 20 years in prison. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the number of sabotage allegations has increased in Russia. Previously, similar cases were often considered under more lenient articles of hooliganism or destruction of property.
The draft law also introduces a new criminal article on “assistance in the execution of decisions of international organizations in which the Russian Federation does not participate, or foreign state bodies on criminal proceedings against officials of public authorities of the Russian Federation”. The punishment for this provides for up to five years in prison or a fine of 300 thousand to one million rubles.
In 2022, Russian courts handed down 11 convictions under the treason article, OVD-Info calculated. Several of them are linked to charges of working for Ukrainian special services.
During the period 1997-2021, 117 people were charged with treason. Among them is Igor Lukin, a soldier from the Primorsky Krai, who was sentenced in 2004 to ten years in prison for attempted treason in favor of China.
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.