The Federation Council excluded police service from the list of aggravating circumstances for a crime

The Federation Council at a plenary session approved a law according to which the commission of an intentional crime by an employee of the internal affairs bodies is not considered an aggravating circumstance. State Duma accepted law in the third reading on May 30.

The document proposes to exclude from Art. 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Circumstances Aggravating Punishment”, paragraph “o” – the commission of an intentional crime by an employee of the internal affairs body. During the plenary session, Alexander Karlin, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, said that “the maintenance of this norm violates the principles of equality before the law.”

The head of the constitutional committee, Andrei Klishas, ​​said that the specified clause was adopted “on the topic of the day,” in response to the actions of a police officer who shot people in a supermarket. “Then they started hastily adopting these norms. It always ends badly,” said Mr. Klishas (quoted from TASS). A member of the committee, Elena Mizulina, said that in one way or another, “heavier punishment is provided for” for employees of the internal affairs bodies.

Law amending Art. 63 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph “o” in 2010 was signed by Dmitry Medvedev, who at that time was the President of Russia. The authors explained the initiative by protecting citizens from “illegal actions of employees of the internal affairs bodies.” Members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who developed a bill to exclude this item, regarded such norms as discrimination against police officers.

Lusine Balasyan