MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - The Russian Supreme Court has suggested that women who have committed minor offences for the first time should not be subject to criminal liability.
"As for subjecting women to criminal liability, we now suggest the following: women should not be subject to criminal liability for minor offences even when they do not have registration," Russian Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev said at a meeting with the Russian president.
A woman could be subject to administrative or other disciplinary liability if a minor or medium-level offence is committed for the first time, Lebedev said. And criminal liability could only be incurred if these actions are committed again, he said.
Even if a woman's registration is unknown, the state could provide an opportunity to warn her about the unacceptability of committing such actions again, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested discussing the issue with the expert community.
"We need to do substantive work with the expert community, with MPs, with the Public Chamber, like we always do in such situations. I will issue a relevant order to the administration," the president said.
The Supreme Court chairman also told the president that, although cases are largely considered within reasonable periods of time, their consideration is subject to special monitoring.
"Individuals should not wait in line for justice. They cannot wait too long, as all their current problems will lose their significance if cases just sit there instead of being considered. Therefore, the following procedure is now in place: if it's established that the reasonable timeframe for consideration of a case has been missed, citizens who go to court have the right to demand compensation for the violation of a reasonable timeframe for consideration of their cases. This is stipulated by law," Lebedev said.
He also admitted that there is currently another problem that needs to be worked on; namely, responsibility for fulfilling a court ruling within the timeframe established by law.
"In addition to reasonable timeframes for consideration of cases, there should also be liability - and this exists - for the fulfilment of court rulings, so that court rulings are fulfilled within a period of time established by law, and in the event of it not being determined, of the non-observance of this timeframe, the individuals responsible for it should be punished, otherwise the sense of the justice system's effectiveness is lost," Lebedev said.