ST. PETERSBURG. May 20 (Interfax) - Punishment for corruption-related crimes acts as a deterrent and must not be mitigated, Russian Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zorkin said.
"In order to crush the corruption onslaught, curb its most damaging outbursts, it is necessary to act in a coordinated, consistent and non-stop manner in strategic areas such as containment, prevention and raising awareness. Criminal repression, being part of this direct containment, must not be relaxed," Zorkin said in his lecture at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum on Tuesday.
Corruption "must constantly be met with constitutional and legal relentlessness" both today and in the future, he said. The fight against corruption should be as systemic as the phenomenon itself, while "the step-by-step dismantling of the corruption paradigm can become the nucleus of a social contract," he said.
"The corruption mayhem cannot last forever regardless of what fig leaves it uses to cover itself with," Zorkin said.