The Lower House of the Russian Parliament approves tougher prison sentences for acts in a period of war

Sep. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Lower House of the Russian Parliament has approved this Tuesday a series of amendments to the Criminal Code to toughen prison sentences for acts committed during wartime, including surrender, desertion and looting

Thus, the new legislation contemplates penalties of between three and ten years in prison for surrender, as long as there are no signs of high treason, although it contemplates that the guilty “could be exempted if they took measures for their release and returned to their unit without commit other crimes during the period of captivity”.

The amendments approved by the State Duma also include that in case of desertion for periods longer than a month those responsible could be sentenced to up to ten years, instead of five years in prison as until now, as reported by the Russian news agency Interfax.

The document states that the unauthorized abandonment of a unit during a period of mobilization will be punished with up to five years in prison, instead of one year, if the period of absence is between two and ten days, while if it is between ten days and one month the penalty will be up to seven years, instead of three.

On the other hand, those responsible for looting may be sentenced to up to 15 years, while those responsible for disobeying orders from a superior during a period of martial law or war, in addition to those who refuse to participate in hostilities, may be sentenced to prison terms of up to three years.

The project, which includes the concepts “mobilization”, “martial law” and “war period”, previously not mentioned in the Russian Penal Code, will be reviewed this Wednesday by the Federation Council –the Upper House– with a view to to its approval and sent to the president, Vladimir Putin, for its ratification.

Analysts quoted by the newspaper ‘The Moscow Times’ speculate on the possibility that the approval of this law is a preliminary step in the face of a general mobilization in the face of the war in Ukraine due to the military setbacks of recent weeks, although the Kremlin has pointed out that this option is not on the table.