This ICC is illegal for me – Newspaper Kommersant No. 65 (7510) dated 04/14/2023

A group of State Duma deputies led by House speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and leaders of all Duma factions introduced amendments to the Security Law on Thursday, giving the president the power to protect citizens from the decisions of foreign or international structures. The parliamentarians also prepared amendments to the Criminal Code (CC) on responsibility for facilitating the execution of such decisions. The expert considers the new initiative a “natural reaction” to the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue warrants for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation, Maria Lvova-Belova, explains that now any contacts with this structure will be considered by Russia as a crime.

Amendments (available to Kommersant) in order to speed up their adoption are being introduced into two government bills that have already been approved by the Duma in the first reading. One of them – amendments to the law “On the procedure for providing the Russian Federation with military and civilian personnel to participate in activities to maintain or restore international peace and security” – passed the first reading on April 4. The second draft, which clarifies responsibility for a terrorist act and sabotage, was approved in December 2022, and by the second reading, the deputies introduced amendments to it, toughening the punishment for terrorism, sabotage and treason. The Committee on State Building and Legislation recommended that it be adopted in the second reading on April 13, but the day before, the House Council decided not to put the document on the Duma agenda on Thursday in connection with the emergence of a new initiative.

Amendments to the law “On Security” empower the president to protect citizens of the Russian Federation in the event that foreign or international bodies make decisions that contradict Russian law.

The second draft of the Criminal Code introduces a new article 284.3 “Providing assistance in the execution of decisions of international organizations in which the Russian Federation does not participate, or foreign state bodies.” According to this rule, assistance to such organizations in the execution of their decisions to prosecute Russian officials, military personnel or volunteers “assisting the fulfillment of the tasks entrusted to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” will be punished by a fine of 300 thousand to 1 million rubles. or imprisonment for up to five years.

In addition, the deputies want to sharply toughen the punishment under the very rare article 360 ​​of the Criminal Code (attack on persons or institutions that enjoy international protection): such crimes are proposed to be punished with imprisonment for a term of 7 to 12 years (now – from 2 to 6 years), and to equate even the “threat of committing it” with the attack itself. The same act committed in order to provoke a war or complicate international relations (Part 2 of Article 360) will be punished by a prison term of 12 to 20 years (now – from 5 to 10 years). Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the decision of the ICC, emphasized that “according to international law, state officials enjoy immunity,” and “high-ranking officials have absolute immunity.”

Recallwith a proposal to develop amendments to the legislation prohibiting the activities of the ICC in Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin made after this court on March 17 issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova.

Mr. Volodin also recalled that in 2002 the United States passed a special law on the protection of military personnel, according to which no American citizen or ally can be arrested or detained on a court order to which the United States is not a party, including the ICC.

In turn, the head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, Andrey Klishas, ​​considered such a reaction of parliamentarians to the decisions of the ICC “unnecessary.” “The ICC is a fictitious institution, its decisions are insignificant, it does not create legal consequences for Russia. The legislative reaction of the Russian authorities to this corrupt and incompetent quasi-court will be superfluous,” the senator explained. TASS.

Leonid Golovko, head of the Department of Criminal Procedure at the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University, considers the initiative of the legislators “a completely natural reaction, first of all, to the odious decision of the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for the arrest of the president.” “It was absolutely inexplicable and even somewhat wild, because Russia is not a member of the ICC. The point now is that any contacts with this court by anyone are considered on the territory of Russia as a criminal offense. Anyone who gives advice to the ICC and simply responds to its requests is already committing a criminal offense from Russia’s point of view,” explains Mr. Golovko.

Ksenia Veretennikova