Human rights activists appealed to the Prosecutor General because of the recruitment of prisoners for a special operation

A group of members of the HRC, including the author of these lines, sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov. Human rights activists are asking for clarification on the basis on which prisoners with unserved terms for various, including serious, crimes are sent to Ukraine to participate in a special military operation.

This is not an idle question: the human rights activists were bombarded with appeals from relatives of the prisoners.

Mari El, Karelia, Ryazan, Kirov and Tver regions – this is not a complete list of regions from where signals are received from relatives of convicts who were allegedly sent to the SVO zone. Videos have appeared on the Internet where people with weapons, dressed in uniform, declare that they are free, send “hello” to specific correctional institutions.

Information about the recruitment of prisoners spread so widely that it even appeared on federal channels. The BesogonTV program in the Vesti program on the Rossiya-1 channel on Sunday, August 7, 2022, told about one of these prisoner heroes who died in the SVO.

“It is possible to release a prisoner who has not served his term of imprisonment on the following grounds: pardon – by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, amnesty – by a Resolution of the State Duma, parole – by a court decision. In connection with the foregoing, we ask you to explain on what basis these persons are released from serving the conclusion, if this information is true?” – This is a quote from the appeal to Krasnov.

If a person in captivity signed the contract himself, that is, he made a voluntary decision, then, it would seem, why not? How are his rights violated?

But in the case of convicts, things are not so simple. The fact is that people are serving sentences for the crime they have committed. According to the law, a court decision on softening their regime (to a colony-settlement, to corrective labor) or their parole is made only taking into account the opinion of the victims. There are many cases when they asked Themis not to mitigate the fate of the perpetrator of the crime, because he never repented, did not begin to pay off claims for damages, threatens the victims even from behind bars, etc.

“The law implies a fair, proportionate punishment according to the same rules,” says Svetlana Makovetskaya, a member of the Human Rights Council. – Of course, taking into account the severity, the degree of guilt and other things. But according to general rules.

Punishment must bear consequences for the perpetrator, which are also determined by a universal rule (law) so as to ensure fairness and adequacy (of the harm that has been caused).

In this case, the law itself potentially suffers as an institution – since indistinct circumstances, in no way connected with the rules common to all, change the consequences for the individual guilty. The proportionality and compulsion of punishment is “skewed”, which means that the rights of some (all and everyone who continue to bear the punishment imposed by the court) are not equal to the rights of others (liberated from punishment by unknown forces).

Victims suffer, because for them the right to justice is guaranteed, among other things, by punishing the perpetrator and limiting part of his rights in the form of isolation for a while from the life of the victim and other people.

Some, justifying the recruitment of prisoners, refer to the symmetrical practice of the Great Patriotic War. However, the comparison is not entirely correct. Firstly, our state, as a guarantor of rights, requires that the operation not be considered a war (especially domestic). Secondly, for obvious and legitimate reasons, it did not announce a special provision repealing part of Russian laws. Thirdly, it is still not clear why the armed formations, called “PMCs” by the media, recruit prisoners into their ranks.

There are other negative aspects to the recruitment story. Many of the prisoners, judging by the videos, are people of, let’s say, a rather marginal warehouse and went to jail, according to them, not for economic crimes, but for robberies, robberies, and murders. How will they behave in a critical situation (and doesn’t the NWO consist of such situations)?

And yet, let’s assume an ideal option: prisoners who have not committed serious crimes against the person, with a healthy psyche, are selected for the SVO. Should this be regulated by law? Even during the war years, the creation of penal battalions was regulated.

Joseph Stalin on July 28, 1942 signed the famous order No. 227, better known as “Not a step back!” Prior to that, on November 24, 1941, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the release from punishment of those convicted of certain categories of crimes” was signed. In total, as of February 1942, 279,068 people were released. Is there any document today? If yes, then no one knows anything about him.

“The expansion and legitimization of actions (and entire institutions) outside the legal field is a threat to the very power,” the military expert believes. – The unnatural nature of the situation with the recruitment of prisoners should have long ago led to such treatment of members of the HRC. It’s good that it finally appeared. And if anyone gives all the explanations, it is the prosecutor’s office. We are waiting for the reaction of the guardians of the law.