The Federation Council appreciated the idea of ​​participation in the elections of prisoners fighting in PMC “Wagner”

The possible participation in elections to the legislative bodies of prisoners who participate in a special military operation as part of the Wagner PMC will require amendments to the Criminal Code, declared RBC First Deputy Head of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building of the Federation Council Vladimir Poletaev.

Earlier this week Andrey Gurulyov, member of the State Duma Defense Committee expressed the opinion that the members of the SVO, including former prisoners, have enough competencies to be nominated for the role of deputies, and such people “may well enter politics in the future.”

As Poletaev recalled, the current legislation contains restrictions on a number of compositions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which impede the exercise of the right of such citizens to be elected. Changes will require an adjustment to existing legislation, but the senator does not see the need for this. According to him, it is necessary to know how many military men with a criminal record want to be elected.

“Does this (changes in legislation. — RBC) need? Here we must proceed from long-term political expediency,” Poletaev said.

Earlier, four sources close to the presidential administration (AP) told Vedomosti that former military men, volunteers, and volunteers who worked in Donbass will be nominated for the 2023 elections, both in legislative and executive bodies. According to two interlocutors of Vedomosti, United Russia representatives participating in the hostilities as volunteers will focus on the “military component.”

Regional elections this year will be held on 10 September. It is planned to elect 20 governors in direct elections, five in indirect ones, as well as deputies of 20 legislative assemblies. In particular, regional parliaments will be elected for the first time in four new constituent entities of the Federation.

On January 5, the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that the first group of former prisoners who participated in the special operation in Ukraine completed a six-month contract and received a pardon. He pointed out that the first group of those pardoned included two dozen former prisoners. During the service, they received a salary, although less than the rest of the volunteers.

As explained member of the Human Rights Council (HRC) under the President of the Russian Federation Eva Merkacheva, the prisoners were released before they were taken out of the colony, but the pardon procedure was a state secret within the framework of the law.