MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill into law that imposes harsher penalties for treason, sabotage and terrorism, and introduces a new penalty for helping enforce the decisions of international organizations which Russia is not a member of or those of foreign government agencies, the official website of legal information said.
The law imposes life imprisonment for treason. At present, Article 275 of the Criminal Code punishes this offense with a prison sentence of 12-20 years and a maximum fine of 500,000 rubles.
The law also introduces changes to the article on terrorist acts by proposing to increase the maximum sentence to 20 years (it is currently 15 years) for terrorist activities intended to threaten the loss of human life and destabilize the domestic situation, and to the article on abetting terrorism by increasing the minimum sentence from five to seven years for recruiting or inducing a person to commit crimes of terrorism. For abetting, the minimum sentence will be raised from ten to 12 yeas (with a maximum of 20 years).
Organizing and membership of a terrorist group will result in ten to 15 years' imprisonment (at present, it is five to ten years). Under the article on sabotage, the punishment for causing damage to transport infrastructure, public services and public health with a view to jeopardizing national economic security and defensive capabilities will be up to 20 years' imprisonment (at present, it is 15 years).
The penalty for an act of international terrorism could be raised from ten to 12 years, up to life imprisonment.
In addition, aiding the enforcement of a decision of an international organization that Russia is not a member of, or of a foreign state agency, will now be treated as a crime. For instance, such an organization could be the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The amendments form a new article of the Criminal Code - Article 284 (3). Helping to enforce a decision of an international organization which Russia is not a member of, or that of a foreign state entity, to prosecute a Russian public official for exercising their duties, or prosecute active duty service members or volunteer soldiers assisting with a mission entrusted to the Russian Armed Forces, will now be punished by a fine ranging from 300,000 rubles to one million rubles, or up to five years' imprisonment.
The proposal for the changes came from Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russia's President Vladimir Putin and children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on March 17.
The law also imposes a harsher punishment for assaulting individuals or institutions that are under international protection, and not only for assaulting a representative of a foreign state or an employee of an international organization who enjoys international protection, but also threatening them with such an attack. The offense will be punished with between seven and 12 years' imprisonment (instead of the current two to six years), and if committed with a view to provoking a conflict or complicating international relations, the prison sentence will be 12 to 20 years (at present, it is 5 to 10 years).