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Parliamentary committee approves bill toughening punishment for torture

It is also proposed to clarify this concept in Russian legislation

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. A Russian parliamentary committee has supported a bill on toughening punishment for torture in the run-up to the crucial second reading, according to the committee’s decision published on Saturday.

The document, adopted by the State Duma (lower chamber) Committee on State-Building and Legislation and uploaded to the chamber’s electronic database on Saturday, recommends "adopting <…> the draft in the second reading."

The bill on stricter penalties for torture was drafted by Pavel Krasheninnikov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, and Andrey Klishas, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building. The bill stiffens penalties for officials who use torture to compel people to incriminate themselves or to harass and intimidate them. Torture will carry penalty of up to 12 years in prison, which takes them to the category of extremely serious offenses.

Amendments introduced ahead of the second reading also suggest a punishment of between eight and 15 years if the crime resulted in death by negligence.