Human rights activists warn of a possible violation of citizens’ rights in connection with the pardon of those convicted to participate in the SVO

It is necessary to establish administrative supervision over pardoned citizens who returned from the zone of a special military operation, as well as to develop and implement a program for their social adaptation and resocialization. This is stated in the report sent to the head of state by the Crime Victims Support Fund. We are talking about citizens who served sentences in prison, but were pardoned by the President of the Russian Federation and after that took part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. A number of victims of the actions of these people or their relatives fear for their lives and health, human rights activists say, their rights may be violated. The head of the Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC), Valery Fadeev, assured Kommersant that the HRC will consider the facts stated in the report.

Representatives of the Fund for Support of Crime Victims (FPP) reported that a report “On the situation of crime victims in Russia during the period of the SVO” was sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The document was also received by the Presidential Council for Human Rights and the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova.

FPP (until June 2016 – interregional human rights public organization “Resistance”) has been helping victims of crimes and cooperating with law enforcement agencies and legislators since 2005. FPP experts took part in the development of more than 20 federal laws – the Federal Law “On the Police”, “On Administrative Supervision of Persons Released from Prison”, “On the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation”, etc.

As a result of the pardon of criminals who took part in the SVO, the document says, the rights of citizens affected by their actions may be violated. The authors refer to Art. 52 of the Constitution, which guarantees the protection of the rights of victims, including access to justice and compensation for damage caused. Meanwhile, they continue, “legislative acts adopted for the purposes of the SVO (amendments to laws regulating the issues of granting the right to enter military service under a contract to citizens with a criminal record, as well as the release of such citizens from criminal liability.— “Kommersant”) actually limited the rights of victims guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

In this regard, the FPP reminds that, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, victims have the right to receive complete information about the movements of the convicted person from his arrival in the colony until the time of his release from prison. However, they state that “those of the victims who decided to exercise this right did not receive information from correctional institutions about the whereabouts of the convicts, since they, in turn, were pardoned.”

The presidential decree of December 14, 2020 “On some issues of the activities of pardon commissions in the territories of constituent entities of the Russian Federation” states that when considering an application for pardon, the nature and degree of public danger of the crime, information on compensation for material damage, as well as the opinion of the victims or their relatives regarding the possibility of pardon. However, the FPP claims that the victims who contacted them did not confirm that anyone was interested in their opinion.

Moreover, a number of victims directly say that they themselves are in danger. “In particular, we were contacted by the parents of the brutally tortured and murdered Yana Boltynyuk, who learned that the killer of their daughter E.P. Tatarintsev was pardoned, took part in the SVO, and then left for his place of residence,” human rights activists say. After his return to Kaluga, the victims live in constant stress from the fact that their daughter’s killer lives in the same city with them.”

Representatives of the FPP, emphasizing that “they do not detract from the importance of the participation of those pardoned in protecting the interests of Russia during the SVO,” but draw the attention of the head of state that “simultaneous release from criminal punishment and expungement of a criminal record complicates further state control over such persons, for example, in terms of administrative supervision.” In this regard, they propose to establish administrative supervision over those pardoned who have returned from the SVO zone, as well as to develop and implement a program for their social adaptation and resocialization. We are also talking about the need to provide for “unconditional notification to the victim of a crime about the transfer and pardon of the offender” and the creation of state mechanisms for compensation for the harm caused by them in the form of a special fund or compensation program.

“People are afraid of revenge and reprisals,” Olga Kostina, chairman of the FPP council, explained to Kommersant. “Unfortunately, not all those released have taken the path of correction. Some of them continue to pose a threat, and control over them is impossible due to the fact that their criminal record has been completely cleared. Of course, you need to take into account the gravity of the crime committed: in some places supervision is necessary, in others it is not.” Mrs. Kostina assured that “we are talking about criticism (SVO.— “Kommersant”) does not apply here”: “We cannot always predict the consequences (of pardoning some convicts.— “Kommersant”), we don’t want the situation to get worse.”

According to the current legislation, the foundation’s experts also point out, a criminal record by an act of pardon can only be expunged from a citizen who has already served his sentence. At the same time, in 2022, “decrees were repeatedly adopted on the pardon (release from criminal punishment) of persons serving a sentence of imprisonment, with the simultaneous expungement of their criminal record.” Thus, the document says, ex-prisoners took part in hostilities “as unconvicted people who had not previously been brought to criminal liability, that is, as ordinary volunteers.” “But, unlike mobilized citizens and contract military personnel, whose service to protect the interests of the Motherland is indefinite, former convicts received a significant preference in the form of a certain period of participation in the SVO, after which they can safely leave the area where it is held,” the text of the report says . We are talking about the practice of pardoning after voluntarily joining the ranks of the Wagner PMC, after six months of service in which a former prisoner could leave the combat zone.

The FPP has not yet received a response from the presidential administration, the Human Rights Council and Tatyana Moskalkova.

“If there really is no administrative supervision over convicts who have received a pardon, we will look into it,” the head of the Human Rights Council Valery Fadeev assured Kommersant and promised that the council would consider the facts stated in the report. Mr. Fadeev also supported the proposal of the FPP to implement social adaptation and resocialization programs for pardoned persons.

Kommersant was unable to obtain a comment from Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova.

Human rights activist Eva Merkacheva told Kommersant that she was also approached by victims who were worried about their safety. Ms. Merkacheva also called for an investigation into cases where pardoned persons stopped paying compensation for damages: “They were initially mistakenly informed that with a criminal record, monetary claims would also be expunged. They end up paying nothing.”

Emilia Gabdullina