In Russia everything is going to decriminalize domestic violence. The lower house of Parliament, the Duma, has approved an amendment to the law in the first reading. Only one MP voted against the amendment, which bans physical abuse of loved ones consisting of public offences.
The Russian Duma adopted a bill in first reading, with 368 votes in favor and one vote against. Now the project is prepared for the second reading, and if it is in the end entirely accept, that domestic violence is no longer seen as a crime against the public, but only as a kind of offense leading to a penalty.
“The law on domestic violence violates the principle of equality of citizens before the law (within the family),” said Elena Mizulina, one of the politicians who initiated the amendment to the law, according to the news site “Medusa”.
Only if the violence is repeated
Mizulina famous throughout the world for its rigidly conservative views and the desire above all to promote “traditional family values”. For example, it supported the Russian ban on “gay propaganda”, which the whole world condemned as homophobic.
The bill at its core seeks to make domestic violence, which is officially defined as violence against family members, subject to civil proceedings.
Then it will be a kind of misdemeanor which can be punished with a fine, but not two years in prison, as it is now. Domestic violence is recognized a true crime only if it is repeated several times in one year.
Physical violence will continue to be a crime, if it happens due to “bullying” or based on “hatred or hostility”, in this case it will be treated as a crime.
© Fotolia, HalfpointДомашнее violence
The amendment to the law aims in part to equate the rules of proceedings domestic violence to the rules about physical violence mild on the street, which is considered a civil offense.
The defenders of women’s rights was the hope
Last year President Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which domestic violence, especially against women, battered by their partners, ranked among the crimes which were to be dismantled with the participation of the Prosecutor. Expressen wrote about it and about the positive reaction to the news of the Russian groups for the protection of women’s rights.
Russian government statistics cited in 2008, according to which up to 14,000 women a year die as a result of violence by their partners or other loved ones. Reliable statistics are hard to find, but the representatives of Russian human rights organizations say that we are talking about at least nine thousand women a year.
