Law on the decriminalization of domestic violence. “Domestic” beatings were removed from the Criminal Code

On January 27, the State Duma adopted in the third reading a bill on amending Article 116 of the Criminal Code Russian Federation(as it criminalizes battery), commonly known as the “domestic violence law” or “spanking law.” Now beatings against close relatives, committed for the first time, are not punished under the Criminal Code, but are carried out under the Code of administrative violations. The law had many opponents; it caused a serious resonance in the media, both liberal and more conservative. Not only many human rights activists, feminists, and journalists spoke out against the law, but also, for example, State Duma deputy Sergei Shargunov, a person with generally conservative views. The following interpretation is often voiced in the media: the State Duma actually allowed beating wives and children. But is this really so?

The bill was introduced by deputies from " United Russia" The LDPR and Communist Party factions formally sent negative reviews of the bill, but on January 27, Vladimir Zhirinovsky told reporters in the State Duma that he actually supported the innovations. 380 deputies voted “for”, 3 “against”. Among them was the writer Sergei Shargunov, known for his conservative views.

What has actually changed?

In the summer of 2016, the State Duma adopted a law decriminalizing beatings in general. As a result, if you hit someone without causing bodily harm or damage to health, then Article 6.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses can be applied to you. There were two exceptions: if you beat close relative(mother, father, child, grandmother, grandfather, grandson, brother, sister) or if you hit someone because of hatred, enmity or hooligan motives. That is, by simply quarreling and slapping a friend, you risk a fine or forced labor.

Now, only beatings committed as hooliganism or motivated by religious or ethnic hostility will remain a criminal offense (after the law is signed by the president) - for this they can be punished with up to two years in prison. In other words, if you slap your husband on the head or lightly flog your child with a belt, you will not face criminal liability. For this, under Article 6.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, you can receive a fine of 5 to 30 thousand rubles, arrest for a period of 10 to 15 days, or 60 to 120 hours of compulsory labor.

And why is this a bad law?

During a debate in the State Duma, Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the bill would help “strengthen the institution of the family” in Russia. United Russia deputy Andrei Isaev, who supported the bill, said that “if a single mother slaps her son, she becomes a criminal, and a stranger will be punished administratively.” This situation seems wrong to him, because it turns out that the person is additionally punished for circumstances not directly related to illegal actions.

Against the background of such statements in in social networks and the media was formed negative attitude to the bill. Many believe it will lead to growth domestic violence, since more mild punishment will “untie the hands” of domestic tyrants and rapists. Women and children will be the first to suffer. In addition, with such a law, the State Duma supposedly sends the “wrong signal” to society: the law can be primitively understood as a literal permission to beat relatives.

This point of view is shared by both human rights activists and liberal journalists, as well as some conservatives. In TASS comments, a lawyer and specialist in civil and international law Maria Yarmush says this:

Most of our men - this is how the mentality has already developed - still think: “I am the master,” and punch them on the table, and then punch them in the eye. Supporting new bill, society gives such aggressors the go-ahead: “Please beat your wives, nothing will happen.”

The head of the Violence.Net project, human rights activist Anna Rivina, agrees with her:

When we say that domestic violence is not a crime... we thereby allow the return of the stereotypes “hitting means loving”, “a woman needs to be educated if she takes on a lot” and in general “it’s her own fault”.

Article 21 of the Constitution prohibits violence. And now it turns out that domestic violence is becoming quite normal. In essence, a signal was given: hit me, nothing like that... Perhaps I don’t understand something, unlike the Duma majority, you can argue with me, but in good conscience I could not vote for such a law.

Why then do deputies and many lawyers support the law?

Supporters of the law actually have reasonable arguments, and they have nothing to do with “strengthening the institution of the family.” In fact, they believe, the changes are only for the better for future victims. There are two main reasons: firstly, Article 116 of the Criminal Code in the case family violence until now it has worked poorly, or one might say, almost not at all; secondly, the new mechanism, the “two-stage responsibility system,” as experts call it, will effectively prevent domestic violence. So, for example, says deputy Olga Batalina.

Indeed, even according to human rights activists themselves, today from 70% to 78% of cases of domestic violence “remain in the shadows,” that is, no one even reports them to the police. It is the number 78% that Anna Rivina names. According to lawyers, from 90% to 97% of cases related to domestic violence that are filed by the police do not reach the court, most often ending either in the reconciliation of the parties or the closure of the case for procedural reasons. Thus, punishment follows the crime in a tiny percentage of cases. From a lawyer's point of view, this means that the law is ineffective.

What is beating anyway? What will they give you “administration” for now?

Separately, you need to take into account that “beating” according to the Code of Administrative Offenses is when you are beaten one or several times and not hard: so that there are no bruises, injuries, and so on. Article 6.1.1 includes slaps, slaps, slaps and relatively light blows. If a woman punches a man, it will most likely be a beating. If a man hits a woman, it is possible that it will be “minor bodily”: a hematoma, a concussion. In other words, something that will require treatment.

If you have a wound, severe bruise, fracture or concussion, this is damage to your health and injuries. For this there are ready-made articles criminal code, for example, 111 and 112 articles for grievous harm, Article 115 for minor harm and others. If you go to the hospital with any injuries, doctors are obliged to automatically, regardless of your desire, inform the police. Accordingly, a criminal case can be initiated without a private statement, simply based on the fact of injury or damage.

Important next moment. An offense under Article 6.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses automatically entails criminal liability, if done repeatedly within a year. In this case, you can immediately get up to three months arrest. But this does not mean that you can beat your wife, just not too much, once a year. IN in this case any repeated offense will automatically lead to criminal liability, even if more than a year has passed since the last time.

So what happens after all: is it now easier to beat your wife or more difficult?

It is impossible to answer this question unambiguously. However, in legal science there is a generally accepted postulate: the commission of a crime is prevented primarily not by severity, but by the inevitability of punishment. It is in this direction that the legislation has changed, many lawyers believe.

According to this project, light beatings will not be punished by criminal article. Punishment is a fine or arrest for 15 days.

A discussion broke out. Why does the State Duma allow beating wives or, conversely, husbands? Does it allow children to be physically punished? “What wildness!” - opponents of the bill exclaim. Here it is necessary to clarify: only the first case of beating is administratively punishable. Repeated violation will already be regarded as criminal offense. And the punishment, of course, is more serious. In addition, only light beatings are decriminalized. If harm is caused to health, then this is also a criminal offense. So no one calls for beating their household members with impunity.

We are talking about mitigating punishment for minor offenses. Don't immediately put violators in jail. The husband is in prison, and the wife, who wrote a statement against him, regrets what she did. There are many such cases. This is exactly what the authors of the bill had in mind. This has already been done regarding non-family violence. Light beatings do not lead to immediate imprisonment.

Crime is changing in Russia. A striking indicator is the number of the most terrible crimes- murders. 80s, end Soviet power. Statistics - 8-9 murders per year per hundred thousand people. 1993 - more than 30 murders per hundred thousand people. The number of murders has quadrupled. And this is far from just the banditry of the 90s. Unsettled people, inability to adapt to a new life, loss of life guidelines. Hence the anger, drunkenness, and drug addiction. This always happens in times of social upheaval.

Since 2003, this terrible figure has been steadily declining. He has now reached approximately Soviet level. The same eight murders per hundred thousand people. Unfortunately, this is too much. But we see a trend towards a decrease in the crime rate of our society. And this is good. The law on domestic violence lies in this direction. Less crime means fewer people in prison.

Radras were posted on social networks by a family with many children foster mom Svetlana Del from Zelenograd near Moscow. There are 16 children in the family. Many have a difficult fate and serious diagnoses. Svetlana herself works as a school coach foster parents. Her heroism was admired by thousands of other women.

“Mikhail treats Sveta and children very well. The standard of a family, that is, you look at them and you understand that these people love each other and love their children,” says Maria Ermel, a friend of Svetlana Del.

But the teacher kindergarten found traces of beatings on Svetlana’s son’s body. It was hard to believe. All week the Internet was abuzz with flash mobs, and parents even published photographs of their children with bruises. However, the Department of Social Protection stated that this was not an accidental injury.

“Not just one bruise, but many bruises. I emphasize again, because many people say bruise, or bruise. This is not a bruise or bruise, but rather numerous bruises and bruises that were found on the child’s body. After which the guardianship authorities, together with the Internal Affairs Directorate, went to the apartment, and there, too, they found complete chaos and insufficient conditions for normal living of children in this family,” said the Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Department of Labor and social protection population of Moscow Vladimir Petrosyan.

It is difficult to imagine what the guardianship authorities saw in the apartment and decided to immediately take ten children from the family. The impression from the sudden inspection clearly did not coincide with the public image of the mother-heroine. Svetlana herself now continues to post pictures of children on Instagram, but from the orphanage.

All this week, the Office of the Commissioner for Children's Rights was preparing a decision on the conditions for the return of children in order to still preserve this, perhaps not a model, but a family. However, the investigation revealed new facts. The children attended clubs, but did not go to school all the time. The teachers of another kindergarten, as well as Svetlana’s eldest daughter, had previously complained about the parents to the guardianship.

“The opinion is that children cannot be returned to this family categorically, because absolutely all the children confirmed the fact that they were beaten at home. Of course, the most serious complaints were against dad. They didn’t even call him dad, everyone calls him Uncle Misha. At his very name, many children shuddered in fear. One older girl said: I will return on one condition - that I not be a servant there. They did not tell my employees, so that we would later be accused of saying that our employees were defending the honor of their uniform. Yesterday, I fundamentally raised the question that the department’s specialists would not work,” said Vladimir Petrosyan, Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Moscow.

The adoptive parents did not agree to be interviewed. And the lawyer stated that there was no fact of beating the child at all.

“No domestic violence is used. It was not used in that particular case with the boy who was allegedly found with bruises. Although now there is already doubt as to whether there was a boy with bruises at all,” said Ivan Pavlov, lawyer for Svetlana and Mikhail Del.

Against father of many children a criminal case was opened. investigative committee also checks the guardianship authorities, who turned a blind eye to the situation in the family. This story is shocking in its unexpectedness. But statistics show that seemingly prosperous families often suffer from domestic violence.

“The official statistics are scary, they are scary. But, nevertheless, we can safely say that 70-80 percent of cases end up in the shadows, and women do not talk about them. And the worst thing is the socio-cultural model. That is, in our society this is still allowed and it is considered normal - to hit a child, hit a woman. And often, first of all, it is the woman’s entourage that will say that there is no need to contact the police, that it is your fault,” says the co-founder and head of the Violence.net project, candidate legal sciences Anna Rivina.

Victims of domestic violence usually hide their abusers. And the police are reluctant to investigate such cases. Partly because they know that in a couple of days the woman may change her mind. Relatives and neighbors also rarely report to the police. Although 95 percent of the victims are children and women, including pregnant women.

“On the Internet and everything ordinary people The people we meet in life will say with 100% confidence that they would not have passed by in such a situation, they would have done something. That is, almost everyone you know will say that they would intervene. In reality, we see a completely different situation,” noted blogger Nikolai Sobolev.

Blogger Nikolai Sobolev and his friend conducted an experiment. In his apartment, in front of the courier, he acted out an everyday scene. The beating was witnessed by 12 strangers in turn. But during the four days of filming, none of the witnesses called the police. And only one guy really stood up.

Masha and Nastya, girls from the feminist association, bought theatrical makeup and offer to imagine themselves in the place of the victim. But even an artificial black eye makes you feel terrible shame.

“It seems to me that it’s psychologically difficult to go out in public with something like this,” says correspondent Ekaterina Kibalchich.

Nevertheless, it still goes out into the center of Moscow, where passers-by, as a rule, try to give the girls a wide berth.

"We were beaten as children. We beat us too and it's okay." It turns out that violence is passed on from generation to generation. Now our task is to break this chain,” says the author of the performance, Maria.

On average, the chain of violence is broken after the seventh beating. It is believed that this is how many times a woman is ready to endure beatings. However, not everyone manages to survive these seven times. Every year, about 12 thousand women in Russia die at the hands of loved ones. These are victims that can be avoided if violence is reported and punished early.

On the Internet, you can search for “domestic violence” and find a telephone number local service emergency psychological assistance. They work in many regions crisis centers, where you can not only get legal assistance, but also temporary housing.

State Duma deputies voted for a law decriminalizing beatings, thereby legalizing domestic violence, unless the victim went on sick leave as a result. The essence of the law is to abolish criminal penalties for beating relatives and other close people: wives, including common-law ones, children, including adopted ones, elderly parents, sisters-in-law, daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law and other family members. Now the only threat for this is administrative responsibility- a fine that will have to be paid from family budget. In other words, the victim can suffer twice: first by suffering physical and moral damage, the second time – material.

Background

If you ask local police officers what issues residents most often worry them about, it’s far from clear. last place There will be quarrels between households. For a long time family rowdies remained unpunished, since the police did not get involved in family disputes legal right. Then, finally, this injustice was legally corrected, and beating relatives became a criminal offense.

However, as a result, another injustice arose: for beatings that did not cause any particular harm to health, that is, did not lead the person to a hospital bed and did not even serve as a reason for issuing him a certificate of incapacity for work, not everyone, but only family brawlers, were threatened with imprisonment. The same violence against strangers provided (and provides) only administrative punishment. Therefore, an initiative arose to equalize the rights of family rowdies with ordinary hooligans.

As a result, this initiative was supported by a majority of votes at the beginning of this year 2017.

Strengths of the law on the decriminalization of battery

The main advantage of decriminalizing domestic violence is the protection of parents who are accustomed to raising their children with spanks, cuffs or belts, from the arbitrariness of the juvenile police. Let’s not get distracted by discussing these unique methods of education, let’s just say that there will be fewer reasons for removing a child from the family due to the parents’ powerlessness to influence him through peaceful methods. But for a child, whatever you say, it’s better to live in a family, and if his mother spanked him on the butt for running across the road when the color was red, this does not indicate her cruelty towards her child, rather, on the contrary, her concern for his life.

The second advantage of the law is even more dubious. According to the initiator of this bill, Elena Mizulina, it will help support family values"traditional family". It is difficult to say what exactly the deputy meant, but most likely the patriarchal tradition, according to which the husband has the right to “educate” his wife through assault. Are such values ​​worth supporting? Unlikely. It's time to come to new rules of house building, when family relationships are built on love, care and mutual respect.

Weaknesses of the bill

We mentioned one of the shortcomings of the bill at the very beginning of the material - administrative fines they hit the whole family hard, not just the rapist.

The second disadvantage is the impossibility of prosecuting a relative or cohabitant for violence if he “hits carefully, but hurts.” No one takes moral damage into account at all.

Meanwhile, according to police statistics, 600 thousand women annually become victims of domestic violence. Public organizations They calculated that every third Russian woman is beaten by her partner with enviable regularity. About 3 thousand children are dying at the hands of heartless parents. Now, domestic abusers will have a free hand: they will remain virtually unpunished, unless they go into a rage and cross the line by causing injury to their loved ones. Moreover, bruises and abrasions do not fall under the “article”, that is, they are fraught only with administrative punishment.

At the time of writing this material, the law on the decriminalization of beatings in the family was adopted only in the first reading, but there is no reason to believe that it will be rejected in the second reading. So its entry into force is only a matter of time.

Irina (not her real name) looks at me with a look so tired and haunted, as if she had just woken up from a nightmare.

“My relatives are in Riga, but I can’t leave - my daughter won’t be released without her father’s permission.”

Five-year-old Katya dumps colorful rails on the floor and builds railway. The husband, the one whose permission is so necessary, beat Irina in front of the child and promised to kill both of them. In December 2016, she left the house in Berezniki. With her daughter in her arms, Irina ran to nowhere, bare feet in the snow. This is not a metaphor.

Seven years of marriage turned Irina’s life into hell. She never wrote a statement to the police against her husband - she was afraid that he would kill him. Having left for Moscow, she changed her phone number and found a job. Now Irina and her daughter live in the Kitezh crisis center. Here they helped her file for divorce and alienation paternal rights.

“I don’t want anything from him, I just want my baby to be safe.”

There are only two state centers of this kind in Moscow - “Dubki” and “Nadezhda”. They will help here if a woman comes with a medical certificate (proves beatings), permanent Moscow registration and a bunch of other documents. And “Kitezh” welcomes everyone. Moreover, government agencies and services themselves constantly send victims here.

Kitezh is being helped by Rostelecom. Takes on the most basic expenses — public utilities, minimum wages employees, partial purchase of food, medicines and payment for the maintenance of wards - 20 thousand per month per person.

Every penny is accounted for, and even despite the support of the sponsor, Kitezh has a lot of “unplanned” needs: heating repairs, water purification, fire alarm And so on. You can achieve government assistance only by winning a grant - presidential or Committee public relations(KOS). After four unsuccessful attempts, Kitezh finally received a small subsidy from KOS last November. Perhaps with this money it will be possible to put in order something that has required repairs for several years. But then we also have to live somehow. Because there are no fewer people in need of help.

Almost all of Kitezh's wards contacted the police. Often my husband is at the communications authorities, and the application is not accepted because the comma is in the wrong place. Even if there is evidence of beating and witnesses.

In January 2017, family beatings were transferred from Article 116 of the Criminal Code to administrative law. Cases when a husband raises his hand against his wife, a parent against a child, or a grandson against an elderly grandmother or grandfather have been equated to a street brawl. The offender is fined five thousand rubles, and he returns home not in the most good mood. The victim is now his own investigator and lawyer. She must conduct an investigation into the case of her beating and hire a lawyer for the trial. Because the state will not do this.

It is not always possible to prove beatings, because many rapists know how to beat without bruising; the application will not be accepted if the doctor did not indicate the color of the hematoma in the medical report. Not everyone has the money for a lawyer either. However, as well as paying fines from the family budget.

In “Kitezh” they remember mother of many children. She was beaten by her unemployed husband, she reported to the police and for some reason received a fine in her name.

Deputy, member of the A Just Russia party Elena Mizulina artistically spoke in the State Duma: “There are no Russians who would be for domestic violence. In traditional family culture relationships are built on the authority of parental authority. The ability to forgive is part of the national and Orthodox tradition.”

The proposal to retain criminal liability at least for cases of beating a pregnant woman or child was rejected. In addition to religious dogma, shifting the blame onto the victim and the habit of tolerance, impunity for the rapist was added.

One day, the guardianship authorities called Kitezh and demanded to know the address. The father, from whom his household had escaped and hid here, wanted to see his son. The director suggested doing this on neutral territory. In response - a promise to write to the prosecutor's office. To the crisis center! The right of force.

It turns out that the system is designed to preserve the family in at least some form. And this is like painting the facade of a house in which the walls are crumbling.

Marina had nowhere to go - an orphan, Ukrainian citizenship. During her first pregnancy, she and her husband were catastrophically short of money, and had to sell their apartment in Ukraine. When Marina found herself completely dependent on her husband, he began to raise his hand.

Two years ago, her husband pushed Marina off the balcony. Her spine was broken. A twelve-year-old daughter called an ambulance. In court, she agreed to reconcile because her husband was sobbing on his knees and promised to improve, and because he had no one except Marina - in 13 years, life had narrowed to one man and two girls.

She had to spend almost a year in a wheelchair. Despite any promises, her husband began to beat her even harder. Both before and after she ended up in a wheelchair, the police came and left the same way: “It’s a family matter, sort it out yourself.”

When she couldn’t bear it anymore, Marina rose to her feet. Much earlier than doctors advised.

One day, in anger, the husband threw a vase at his eldest daughter. The girl ran away into the street. Marina waited until he fell asleep, and in slippers, on wobbly feet, she left the house. Forever. She failed to take the youngest one - her husband fell asleep with her in his arms.

“He is sick, but does not want to be treated. He says I was recruited by some organization, I was looking for bugs in children’s ears. He won’t give up the younger girl, and I’m tormented that I left her. I contacted the guardianship authorities several times, but they insisted that they couldn’t do anything without depriving me of my paternal rights. I need a lawyer, but I can barely make ends meet.”

About six months ago, Marina was hiding in Kitezh. Her husband found her, dragged her out into the street, and threw himself at the other women and the priest. The police arrived two hours after the call, Marina wrote a statement. They promised to call, but they didn’t call.

“Absolute power is a serious temptation, and many cannot cope with it. And women’s patience is brought up by tradition,” explains Alena. — From childhood, a woman is trained to become the keeper of the hearth, and if problems begin in the family, the husband raises his hand, it is customary to think that she did something wrong and must correct herself. But he hits again, and again, and now this is no longer a family, but a war.”

Anthony Suzhorsky said that violence is love misunderstood. If a girl was beaten as a child, she is ready to go through it again. For a boy, this is already a model of behavior. And every child in Russia knows the saying “hitting means loving.” I once voiced it to my European friend. He thought I was making such a bad joke. Then he silently shook his head for a long time. They had never heard of such love there.

Aggression must be treated, not tolerated. But “washing dirty linen in public” is shameful. My husband hurt me - it’s a shame. It’s a shame to write a statement. I'm ashamed that I didn't save my family. The woman decides to go to the police, and there she hears: “Do you want a father who is a criminal for your children?” Parents beg to be “sorry.” The church tirelessly reminds us of the high mission of sacrifice.

A priest turned to Kitezh, who no longer understood what to do with the family of parishioners who had lived for twelve years in the cyclical “beatings—confession—beatings.”

Kitezh did not have time to help the woman. She committed suicide. The cross was too heavy to lift, there was no strength left to humble myself.

In the social concept of the church, domestic violence is a reason for divorce, but many priests still advise “to be patient.” “Kitezh” conducts courses for priests in churches, telling them how to help such families.

The Novospassky courtyard smells of dying autumn beauty. Somewhere a cow is mooing. Alena, in a hastily knitted scarf, buys pies in the monastery shop and hands them to me on the path.

“Caucasians recently came to pick up a girl, but Father Seraphim came out to them, and they did not dare to enter - clergyman after all."

It's strange to me that people can be stopped by religious authority, and not by fear of being hurt. It is not very clear whether this is a hole in the legislation or in the cultural code.

By the way, the concept of domestic violence in Russian code There are simply no laws. Meanwhile, since the 90s, attempts have been made to introduce it more than forty times.

Above latest version bill “On prevention and prevention domestic violence» lawyers worked and public figures. In 2016, the State Duma rejected it. The government’s response was “missed,” although the authors claim that it was included.

In October 2017, the law was again sent for consideration.

In addition to introducing the term domestic violence itself, it changes the relationship between the state and the victim, inviting those in power to still protect the victim, and not wash their hands when the situation is already out of control. The police are investigating, and the victim receives a lawyer for free. She doesn’t have to prove on her own that her life is in danger. There is no need to look for crazy money for defense in court.

It would seem that, we're talking about about taken-for-granted measures. But the government stubbornly pretends that we don’t need changes and talks about “women’s privileges.” It’s interesting what Kitezh’s players think about privileges.

If this law finally gets a response, if it is passed, then a person will be able to attract attention before he is killed or put in a wheelchair.

Anna Zaikova,
especially for Novaya

P.S.

You can learn more about the bill and support it on the website domesticviolence.ru

While we don’t have a law, Kitezh is one of the few places where victims can get shelter. You can help the shelter as much as you can in cash or humanitarian.

Autonomous non-profit organization"Center for Assistance to Families in Difficulty" life situation, "Kitezh"
ANO "Kitezh" or Women's Crisis Center "Kitezh"
OGRN 1137799016189
Legal address: 127951, Moscow, st. Peasant Square, ow. 10, p. 20.
TIN 7705521799
checkpoint 770501001
OKPO code 17255632
OKVED 74.13.2
OGRN 1137799016189
R/s 407 038 107 382 500 017 90
OJSC"Sberbank of Russia", Moscow
C/s 30101810400000000225
BIC 044525225
Tel/Fax +7 916 920-10-30

The State Duma in the second reading considered the law on the decriminalization of beatings in the family. RBC understood the position of opponents and supporters of the bill and possible consequences its adoption

Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on constitutional legislation And state building Elena Mizulina (Photo: Maxim Blinov/RIA Novosti)

On Wednesday, January 25, the State Duma approved in the second reading the amendments of deputies and senators to Art. 116 Criminal Code. The bill excludes from - article opportunity prison term(up to two years) for beatings inflicted on close relatives and “causing physical pain, but not entailing consequences.” For this, only administrative punishment is provided: a fine of 30 thousand rubles, arrest for 15 days or 120 hours of correctional labor.

After the adoption of the amendments, criminal liability will arise only if the person who has already received administrative penalty beat a neighbor again or if the beating caused harm to health recorded by doctors. Experts say that domestic violence can be punished under other articles, but law enforcement agencies prefer not to initiate such cases, regardless of current standards UK.

“We forgot due to stupidity”

The Duma took up the decriminalization of Article 116 back when. -A resonant law that transferred all non-serious beatings from criminal offenses to the category - administrative offenses, was adopted on the initiative Supreme Court and signed by the President.- On the initiative of United Russia member Pavel Krasheninnikov, an exception was made only for family beatings, for which they left real prison sentences.

Krasheninnikov’s amendment was “forgotten and adopted out of stupidity,” a source close to the leadership of the State Duma told RBC. “Parliament had already completed its work, everyone was preoccupied with the upcoming elections and had not properly analyzed the consequences,” the publication’s interlocutor complained. According to him, the amendment caused outrage in the Supreme Court, “and the leadership of the court reached Putin, after which United Russia was told to change the law again.”

One of the most active defenders of the decriminalization of domestic battery last summer was the famous with your own statements in defense of “traditional values” Senator Elena Mizulina. She introduced the first version of the amendments in July 2016. Later, an almost identical text was presented by a group of United Russia members, citing “greater legal elaboration” of the new version.

In July last year, the State Duma classified these norms as private-public accusation: law enforcement agencies were obliged to initiate and investigate criminal cases against them. But the adoption of the bill on the decriminalization of beatings will return the situation to its original state, says Sinelnikov: “A person must file a statement on all legal rules. If there is something wrong with it, it is returned. As a rule, that’s where it all ends.”

"Systemic problem"

The abolition of criminal penalties for the first case of domestic violence occurs against the backdrop of difficult situation with institutions to help victims of domestic violence. As the Legal Initiative organization pointed out, the few state crisis centers for helping families and children create “bureaucratic obstacles” for victims of domestic violence, for example, requiring them to various certificates and documents. And NGOs working on the issue of domestic violence received approximately 0.12% of the amount allocated for presidential grants in 2015—a total of 4.9 million rubles. total.

At the same time, local authorities sometimes treat domestic violence with great attention than federal officials. So, in Penza, Murmansk and Saratov regions V local Code of Administrative Offenses There are articles about “family and household rowdy.” And regional dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church are opening shelters for victims of domestic violence, which, according to human rights activists, runs counter to the official position of the church.

"Domestic violence" systemic problem, and to solve it, two types of measures are needed: legislative and educational. They can only work together, but today we really don’t have either one or the other,” says Marie Davtyan.

The decriminalization of beatings may be perceived by part of society as a certain signal, fears Svetlana Aivazova, a member of the Presidential Human Rights Council and chief researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “This means normalizing violence. None modern state this is impossible; law exists precisely to avoid violence,” says the sociologist.