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Crucial for stable society: Legislator stands by new bill widening presidential immunity

The lawmaker stressed that under the bill a former head of state can be stripped of immunity only if the lower house brings an accusation of high treason or another serious indictable felony against him, while the upper house passes a respective decision

The Russian lower house, State Duma Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

The Russian lower house, State Duma

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, November 5./TASS/. A bill to amend and extend immunity for former Russian presidents is vital for the stability of the state and society, its co-author, Chairman of the State Duma (parliament's lower house) Committee on State Building and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov told TASS on Thursday.

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Kremlin gives nod to bill to grant immunity to ex-presidents beyond their terms of office

The lower house will give it a first reading together with considering a draft law on the procedure of forming the Federation Council (parliament's upper house) and amendments to the law on the status of parliamentarians, he said. Earlier, Krasheninnikov said that these documents submitted by President Vladimir Putin last week would be looked into in November.

On Thursday, Krasheninnikov and Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrei Klishas submitted the bill under which a former head of state can be stripped of immunity only if the lower house brings an accusation of high treason or another serious indictable felony against him, while the Federation Council passes a respective decision.

This bill on immunity "stems from the constitution and of course it is interconnected [with the law on a new procedure of forming the Federation Council - TASS], since we know that an ex-president has a possibility to be a lifetime senator," he explained.

The legislator stressed that bill’s provisions "are important both for the person in question, and for the stability of the state and society, so that former, incumbent and future presidents know that there is a status of immunity and that nobody will take revenge, or persecute them, and so forth," Krasheninnikov stressed. "This is a very important bill for the stability of society," he added, saying that it was not about names, but about "concise legal relations."

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