Territorial Procedural Code – Newspaper Kommersant No. 232 (7433) dated 12/14/2022

The State Duma continues to rapidly integrate new territories into the Russian legal system. On Tuesday, the deputies approved several bills on this topic at once. They concern the application of the Criminal (CC) and Criminal Procedure (CPC) codes of the Russian Federation in new territories, the procedure for the formation of courts in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DNR and LNR) and the inclusion of representatives of affiliated entities in the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Draft law on the application of the provisions of the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure of Russia in new territories at the end of November, United Russia members Pavel Krasheninnikov and Irina Pankina, as well as Senator Andrey Klishas, ​​introduced it. “We are carrying out comprehensive work to integrate new territories into the legal space of the Russian Federation,” said Pankina, presenting the draft at a meeting on December 13. According to the document, criminal proceedings in the new regions are carried out according to the rules established by the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure, and the criminality and punishability of acts committed before September 30 (the day the agreements on the annexation of new territories were signed) are determined on the basis of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. “It is important that we do not allow a turn for the worse. If Russian law provides for a more lenient punishment for a crime, Russian criminal law will apply. And vice versa: if Russian legislation provides for a more severe punishment, then it will not be applied,” Irina Pankina emphasized. She also noted that jury trials in the new regions of the Russian Federation will start working in 2027.

In addition, according to the draft, an act is not criminal and punishable, the responsibility for which is provided for by the legislation of Ukraine, “if it contains signs of a crime under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but was aimed at protecting the interests” of Russia and new regions.

“We perfectly understand the conditions in which the new territories have lived all these years,” Irina Pankina emphasized. And in response to the request of Alexei Kurinny (KPRF) to give an example of such an act, she explained that it was, for example, a violation of territorial integrity.

Only Yury Sinelshchikov (KPRF) had a comment on the bill: he did not agree with the rule according to which harm for unjustified criminal prosecution caused to citizens before September 30, 2022 is not subject to compensation. The deputy recalled that some residents of Crimea were convicted under Ukrainian law for calling for joining Russia. “After the annexation of Crimea, the cases ceased, but no one compensated for the damage, including the moral one. Moreover, the file contains information that the person was brought to criminal responsibility. One person was denied registration in the elections as a candidate for deputies,” the communist said. At the same time, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, according to him, will support the draft in the first reading and hopes to correct it by the second.

Also, four bills submitted on December 8 by the same authors on the establishment of courts on the territory of the DPR and LPR and on the procedure for selecting candidates for judges were adopted in the first reading. Speaking about the importance of these initiatives, Irina Pankina recalled that just last week, President Vladimir Putin called for “promptly resolving the issue of integrating the judicial system of new regions into the general judicial system of the Russian Federation.”

True, the authors managed to prepare only drafts about the DPR and LPR: there is still no sufficient information on the number of judges in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, so this issue is still “working on,” explained Pankina.

According to the projects, city and district courts are being created throughout the territory of the DPR and LPR, including areas under the control of Ukraine. The selection of candidates for the initial composition of federal courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts will be conducted by the High Qualifications Board of Judges of the Russian Federation on a competitive basis. Priority will be given to judges who held these positions before September 30, but they must have Russian citizenship and meet other Russian requirements. The creation of court districts and the determination of the total number of justices of the peace are not regulated by the document: for this, it is necessary to receive relevant proposals from the authorities of the DPR and LPR, said Ms. Pankina.

The bills were passed without discussion.

The State Duma also approved in the first reading and immediately as a whole amendments to the law on the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, enabling representatives of new regions to join this body. According to the current law, the OP consists of 40 citizens appointed by the president, 85 representatives of regional public chambers and 43 nominees of all-Russian public organizations. The amendment increases the number of regions sending their delegates to the OP from 85 to 89. The new composition of the RF OP is to be approved next year.

Ksenia Veretennikova