MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Russia’s State Duma, or lower house of parliament, has passed in the second and third readings a law allowing individuals staying outside the country to be tried in absentia for committing crimes against Russia’s security.
The bill was submitted to the Duma in March as part of a package geared to ensure Russia’s sovereignty and security and protect it from foreign interference attempts. Around 400 lawmakers led by Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and his deputy Irina Yarovaya signed off on the package.
The law amends article 247 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure (participation of the defendant), which states that criminal trials for serious crimes can be held in the absence of the defendant if he or she is outside Russia and evading court summons. The new amendment adds 20 more crimes to the list.
According to Yarovaya, these crimes include demolishing or damaging military graves and monuments; justifying Nazism; calling for terrorism, extremism, violating Russia’s territorial integrity, inciting mass riots, unleashing a war of aggression; propagating fake information about and discrediting Russia’s armed forces. The new norms are seen as a "line of defense against <…> outspoken betrayal of Russia, <…> against lies and false information as a weapon of mass destruction aimed at interfering in domestic politics and instigating interethnic hatred, against foreign agents acting against Russia’s interests," she said.
"No matter where a foreign agent or an individual betraying our country’s interests is, if he or she is doing harm from outside Russia, they will ultimately be tried and punished," Volodin stressed.