– The fact that you own something today does not mean that you will own it tomorrow. This is how Russia researcher Jakub Godzimirski describes Russian criminal culture. It is not just fines and prison sentences that you can expect if you break Russian law. You risk losing everything you own. The lower house of the Russian National Assembly has now decided that those who dare to criticize the war in Ukraine should be punished even more severely than before. The new law makes it possible to seize property, take money and other valuables belonging to those who break the ban. Russia researcher Jakub Godzimirzki says that the new law will create uncertainty in the people, because no one yet knows how it will be enforced. Photo: Nupi Nupi researcher Godzimirski believes the law has two purposes: One is to scare the population from criticizing their warfare in Ukraine. The second is that in this way the state receives additional income. He says that, among other things, the Russian state is required to pay large sums of money to those on the battlefield: – In this way, they can now seize assets that can either be sold or passed on to others, says Godzimirski. Unanimously adopted In the vote on Wednesday, 377 Duma members voted for the new law, according to the state-run Russian news agency RIA. No one voted against. Godzimirski is not surprised. According to him, the national assembly is largely an apparatus that exists to sign off on what the president wants: – There is no debate in that assembly. It is only when the Russian president has signed the law that it is activated. First he has to visit the upper house. Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofyev / AFP Lova will now be sent to the Upper House in the National Assembly, before eventually possibly ending up on President Vladimir Putin’s table for signature. Godzimirski says that the law will create fear in the population, because one does not know how it can be enforced. According to the Russia researcher, the Russian legal system is colloquially called a “telephone court”, because a phone call from the top can quickly determine the outcome of a case. – Villains and traitors Russia has, after the invasion of Ukraine, introduced strict laws against criticizing the armed forces in the country and their military operations. A number of war opponents have been imprisoned after breaking the censorship laws. But these laws are not enough, according to the leader of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin. – The new law is aimed at villains and traitors, those who today spit on our soldiers, who have betrayed their homeland, and who transfer money to the armed forces of a country that is at war with us. The law may also affect the several hundred thousand who have left Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, many of them to avoid being sent to the war. Vyacheslav Volodin is the leader of the Duma and is considered to be one of the architects behind the Russian electoral system. Photo: The State Duma/Handout / AP Long prison terms The high-profile Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year for spreading “false information” about the Russian army and for belonging to an “undesirable organization ». The 42-year-old former journalist and politician rejects the debts. The BBC writes. SEVERE PUNISHMENT: Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison for, among other things, criticizing the war in Ukraine. Photo: AP In March 2022, the editor Marina Ovsjannikova protested against the war by breaking into a news broadcast on Russian TV. Later she carried out another protest, and was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. Ovshannikova managed to leave Russia with her daughter before she was arrested. These are just two of many who have been sentenced to long prison terms. But now they and others who criticize the war in Ukraine can receive an additional punishment by having their property in Russia confiscated.
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Russia will take property and valuables from war resisters – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
