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Russian MP seeks to punish bankers and collectors driving debtors to suicide

"A person might commit suicide as a result of various kinds of psychological pressure," deputy Oleg Mikheyev noted

MOSCOW, October 24 (Itar-Tass) - A State Duma opposition lawmaker from the A Just Russia party is the author of a parliamentary bill seeking punishment for bankers and collectors who drive debtors to kill themselves.

"A person might commit suicide as a result of various kinds of psychological pressure," deputy Oleg Mikheyev told Itar-Tass. He said the draft law would amend Article 110 of Russia's criminal code, which spells out penalties for driving a person to suicide.

"In the conditions of a high borrowing rate and poor knowledge of financial matters, Russians easily take loans at tremendous interest rates and under crippling terms," he said. "As they begin to face an unmanageable debt load, they take their lives."

He said a whole structure of legal means to recover debt might be construed, under certain conditions, as abuse of rights by the creditor, while the methods themselves can aim at upsetting the debtor's psychological balance and quashing his possible, and sometimes legal, resistance.

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