The Kremlin Further Consolidates Power
Bills Threaten Human Rights and NGO Intervention in Russia
Dec 18, 2008
On Friday, December 12, 2008, Russia’s upper house of parliament passed a law ending jury trials for citizens suspected of treason or terrorism. On the following Sunday, the country narrowly avoided anti-Kremlin rallies detaining 130 people from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Then that Wednesday, Prime Minister Putin announced a new bill expanding the definition of treason to include the damaging of Russia’s territorial integrity, constitutional order, or sovereignty.
Criminalizing Opposition
The broad language in the new bill could criminalize all opposition to Kremlin policies and potentially prevent Russian citizens from speaking to foreign journalists. Sunday’s rally, for example, could have fallen under the vague classification of “damage to constitutional order.”
Treason is punishable in Russia by up to twenty years in prison. Through this legislation and the elimination of the need for a trial by jury, Russia has created a system favorable to the speedy and decisive imprisonment of all opposition. Lev Levinson of Human Rights Institute told the daily Kommersant that he felt the bill’s goal was “to restore the Stalinist norm where any anti-Soviet activity was a criminal offense.”
Redefining Espionage
The bill also would expand the definition of espionage by reclassifying any groups with offices outside of the country as “foreign organizations.” This could potentially include NGOs acting in the country such as Amnesty International or Greenpeace. Espionage is described by law as the sharing of state secrets with foreign organizations.
The designation of "state secret" in Russia is legally somewhat hazy. A report published in October by the Institute for Freedom of Information Development, found that though “legislation on… state secrets had existed for over ten years now, Russia does not have an extensive court practice of using this legislation. The state organs do not have sufficiently qualified personnel to implement a clear and rational information policy in relationship to citizens.”
The legislation would further jeopardize a Russian citizen’s right to appeal to international safeguards including the European Court of Human Rights. And the inclusion of “territorial integrity” in the language of the bill has obvious implications for independence activists in Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Kremlin Loyalists Vote
Andrei Lugovoy, the man accused by Britain of murdering a dissident and outspoken critic of Putin's, Alexander Litvinenko, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais, "If someone has caused the Russian state serious damage, they should be exterminated." Lugovoy has been promoted to the state DUMA since the accusation and will be one of the legislators voting on the new bill, which is likely to get quick approval.
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