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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Rule of Law |
|---|---|
| located: | Russia |
| editor: | Igor Serebryany |
The Russian police will be granted a right to shoot and kill any passerby as well as break into private households and cars without giving a reason for its actions, as stated by a new bill introduced by the Russian government.
This new law will challenge the current law, adopted ten years ago, that requires enforcers must warn the violators about the intention to use arms twice before opening fire and only if a person is trying to attack the police officer.
The bill will essentially lift those 'restrictions' and give the police a green light to shoot if it 'assumes' the person 'might' constitute a danger. The government will also grant the police a right to enter private homes and unlock cars if they believe a criminal or forbidden belongings might be found inside. No responsibility of the police for damaged property or even for a life taken is envisaged by the bill.
The bill, in reality, does not introduce any cardinal changes – it simply legalises the practice the Russian police use already, a lawyer in the 'OVD-Info' human rights monitor Tatyana Tyatova says. (OVD is a Russian analogue of a police station). She notes that the Interior Ministry de facto put a blind eye on such violations since 1996 and now that will be made de jure.
"Sometimes, it could be necessary to open a car in the absence of its owner – if, say, a baby has been locked in it, so the game is worth the candle. But in that case, the reason for the action is visible. But breaking into someone's car or home only because some policeman 'assumed' there is a potential terrorist or a stash of drugs gravely violates Civil Code, let alone destroys the presumption of innocence", she says.
The Russian Civil Code states that the damage inflicted to the private property must be reimbursed by those causing it, be it a private person or an official in the discharge of his functions.
The bill tabled to the State Duma on Monday bypasses the Civil Code and created a legal contradiction, but the government and legislators couldn't care less. Hypocritically enough, the government justifies the bill by "necessity to enhance the citizen's rights and interests."
"A few years ago the road police attempted to catch car hijackers creating artificial traffic jams with cars going by. The owners of the cars damaged in such operations successfully sued the police and made them abandon the practice. The new bill denies the citizen the very possibility to complain of police's actions in court," Tyatova notes.
Even more flagrant is the suggestion to give police the right to break into households without prosecutor's sanctions. "This is a direct violation of Article 25 of the Constitution and Article 12 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which state that no one can enter someone's home without a judge order. The only exception is if that happens under the Emergency Law. But, as last month showes, the Russian government has been reluctant to declare a formal emergency," the expert says.
Police in Russia often disregard these laws, and this new bill gives them a possibility to do that openly, president of the Russian bureau of the International Human Rights Society Vladimir Novitsky echoes. "The state's repressive system hurries to use the current situation of the pandemic to widen the government's powers as far as possible. They don't care that their 'legal' moves contradict the Constitution and international law," he says.
"Previously, a citizen had an opportunity, however flimsy, to challenge the police misconduct in court. But after this bill becomes a law, and that will happen inevitably, the only way to safeguard oneself against police violence is to escape to Mars," Novitsky sighs.
"The keyword in the bill is 'if police believe its actions are justifiable'. But it is up to themselves to decide whether their actions are justifiable. We've seen it in recent months that the authorities issue orders which are questionable from a legal point of view," Novitsky says, hinting to Moscow city government's order to fine residents for any violations of the lockdown rules which have never been formally introduced.
Even in Afghanistan, one of the world's most violent countries, police can open fire only after making three verbal warnings and three warning shots. In the USA, the police can open fire in line with the Force Continuum chart, which allows the use of lethal arms only after a verbal warning, pepper spray, rubber stick and taser.
