The government has proposed toughening penalties for those who went to the front to avoid criminal prosecution.
The government has submitted a bill to the State Duma to toughen penalties for military crimes for service members who signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense in exchange for exemption from criminal prosecution.
The changes to criminal prosecution will equally affect two categories of service members: those who signed contracts in exchange for release from prison, where they were sentenced by a court. And those who agreed to go to the front in exchange for the suspension of criminal proceedings before sentencing.
For these categories of service members, during an armed conflict, it is proposed to replace the current sentences for certain military crimes with harsher ones:
-For desertion (Article 338 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) – from 10 to 20 years (currently from 5 to 15 years);
-For evading military service by feigning illness, self-harm, document forgery, or other deception (Article 339 of the Russian Criminal Code), the penalty is 7 to 12 years (currently 5 to 10 years).
For unauthorized absence from duty or failure to appear without good cause (Article 337 of the Russian Criminal Code), the penalties, as in the original version of the article, are ranked depending on the length of the delay:
-For failure to appear for duty without good cause from two to ten days, the penalty is 2 to 6 years (currently up to five years);
-For failure to appear for more than ten days but no more than one month, the penalty is 3 to 8 years (currently up to seven years);
-For failure to appear for more than one month, the penalty is 7 to 12 years (currently 5 to 10 years).
The Supreme Court's opinion is attached to the bill. The ministry deemed the amendments "relevant and timely," citing the "ratio of crimes" committed by formerly incarcerated military personnel.
The initiative was developed by the Ministry of Justice, and last week it was supported by the government's legislative committee.