Interfax: Bill on criminal liability for terrorists’ relatives unlikely to be considered in State Duma – official

January 12, 2014 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Terrorism

MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) – The bill of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party faction member Roman Khudyakov to introduce criminal liability for relatives of terrorist is PR, head of the Russian State Duma legislation committee Pavel Krashennikov (the United Russia party faction) said.

“To imprison for a brother, father, son – we remember when this happened and, thank God, we have survived this. It is not wanted to return to those times probably. This generally contradicts the principles of the criminal law,” Krashennikov said when commenting on the amendments to the Russian criminal Code submitted to the State Duma on Thursday.

Everyone should be responsible for own actions, Krashennikov said.

Russia has already had a regulation stipulating the seizure of a terrorist’s property from his relatives, the official said.

As to the bill of Khudyakov, this initiative is unlikely to be considered in the State Duma, Krashennikov said.

“It is necessary to have reviews of the Supreme Court and the government, such reviews do not exists, thus from the formal, legal point of view, this draft law has not been submitted even,” Krashennikov was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the United Russia’s website.

“This initiative is just PR,” the official said.

Khudyakov proposed in his amendments to the Russian Criminal Code to increase the punishment for carrying out a terrorist attack, assisting terrorist activities, public appeals for terrorism and relevant training from 15 to 25 years. Additional punishments, including property confiscation, the ban to cross the Russian border freely and arrest of the bank account with money confiscation to follow, have been offered as well.

The bill includes a regulation, according to which immediate relatives of terrorist are criminally liable if a crime against public safety is committed.

“It should be noted that the authorities of Israel resolve the issue of terrorism radically – the house in which the terrorist’s (or other persons somehow related to committing a crime against public safety) family resides is to be demolished. These measures make to think not just about yourself, because with such actions he dooms his family for life in starvation with reputation tainted forever,” Khudyakov wrote in the explanatory note to the bill.