Russia to institute death penalty for rapists

The Russian parliament, the State Duma, will consider two amendments to the articles of the Russian Federation Penal Code, originally submitted by deputy Yury Napso. The amendments intensify the punishment for rapists, particularly in those cases when a victim dies in an attack. The deputy offered to cancel the current 15-year punishment for such cases and replace it with either life in prison or death penalty. Experts say that the Penal Code already contains an article stipulating a punishment for murder and that they see no point in toughening the punishment for involuntary manslaughter.

Photo: Russia to institute death penalty for rapists

The author of the bill believes that the incumbent measure of punishment give criminals an opportunity to be included in the amnesty to continue committing deadly crimes afterwards.

Legal experts consider the above-mentioned amendments pointless. Yury Kostanov, a chief spokesman for the Moscow Bar, said in an interview with the Novye Izvestia newspaper that a rape committed with deliberate manslaughter will be categorized as aggravated murder, which already has the lifetime punishment stipulated in the Russian Penal Code.

The expert said that there was no need to toughen the punishment if death was caused inadvertently during an act of rape.

Pavel Krasheninnikov, the chairman of the committee that is currently considers the bill, said that the Duma would not pass the document. “It goes without saying that the scum committing such crimes deserves a severe punishment. However, the problem is not about a short prison term. The problem is about the timely capturing of criminals. If only we could solve this problem, the principle of the inevitable punishment would work for a hundred percent, and no one would say that we have to either behead or shoot everyone,” the official said.