Calls in Russia to remove the criminal liability exemption from repeat offenders who have taken part in the Ukraine conflict

04.03.2025

Article published on the moscowtimes.ru website

According to Kommersant, the Crime Victims Support Group (CVS) has said that there should be State monitoring of those who have participated in the war in Ukraine when they return to civilian life. The organisation is also asking that veterans coming back from the conflict who are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Russians should no longer be exempt from criminal prosecution.

We are talking here about people involved in the war who have committed very violent crimes. On their return to Russia, they could once again pose a major threat to their previous victims, according to a report on State protection of the rights of crime victims, prepared by the CVS. Some victims have been very vocal in saying that they fear for their lives and for those of their loved-ones.

The CVS is also asking for victims to be told when criminal liability has been removed from individuals who have committed crimes against them and wants the State to monitor all those whose criminal charges have been dropped as a result of their participation in the war, irrespective of whether their criminal slate has been wiped clean.

“We want to meet the victims’ group halfway”, said Valery Fadeyev, head of the Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC). “Monitoring is needed of those responsible for extremely serious crimes but not those who, for example, have committed a lesser offence of stealing a phone”.

An MP Alexei Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chair of the Duma’s Defence Committee, said that repeat offenders should face a military disciplinary tribunal. In his view, the rules on repeat offending by combat veterans have not been applied to their fullest extent. Incidents of former criminals being released after a couple of months with a service unit “smacks of impunity” and so need to be monitored, reports Kommersant.

Last October, Putin approved two laws that allow defendants to be exempted from criminal liability if they are called up for “military service, or have signed a contract with the Defence Ministry during mobilisation or time of war”.

The Russian media outlet Verstka estimates that 378 people have been killed and a further 376 left with life-threatening injuries at the hands of military personnel returning from the frontline.

The CVS report will be sent to the Russian President, the HRC and the Federation’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova later this month.

Source:https://www.moscowtimes.ru/2025/03/03/v-rossii-predlozhili-otmenit-osvobozhdenie-ot-ugolovnoi-otvetstvennosti-cherez-svo-dlya-retsidivistov-a156868