Putin’s New Law – Harsher penalties for juveniles

The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) condemns the law passed by the Russian State Duma, which lowers the age of criminal responsibility for “sabotage and terrorist offences” to 14 years. In the future, minors will face prison sentences up to life imprisonment for symbolic resistance against the war and repression in the country. In Russia, Putin’s repressive apparatus is now systematically directed against his own youth.

“Putin is breaking the backbone of the courageous youth. In a country where the regime has a monopoly on torture and the ‘volunteer soldiers’ have already died hundreds of thousands of times, male prisoners in particular are forced under massive pressure to sign contracts for the war effort,” comments Edgar Lamm, chairman of the ISHR, “Russia is sacrificing not only the freedom, but also the future of its youth – for a criminal war and a regime that which brands any criticism as terrorism”.

New law: No leniency, no statute of limitations

The new regulation provides that suspended sentences are no longer possible for the offences in question and that the statute of limitations will be lifted. Early release is only possible after serving at least three-quarters of the sentence. Courts may not impose more lenient penalties than those provided for by law.

The law is part of a series of measures with which the Russian leadership is silencing opposition voices. Young critics of the regime and war are already being criminalized, tortured and sentenced to long prison terms for leaflets, social media posts or symbolic protests. For example, the ISHR is aware of more than 130 underage and young war opponents who were imprisoned for such actions long before the new law was passed.

These include the recently arrested 18-year-old street musician Diana Loginova (stage name: Naoko), who was imprisoned in St. Petersburg for the third time and who is threatened with another court case for singing a song against Putin. Since her imprisonment, the ISHR has been looking after Daria Kosyrewa, sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for criticising the war; Egor Balaseikin, sentenced to six years in prison for an unlit Molotov cocktail despite liver fibrosis, and the seriously ill Arseniy Turbin, imprisoned for five years for leaflets.

The ISHR calls on the European Union not to abandon the severely oppressed Russian civil society, especially minors, and to put pressure on the Russian government to achieve an end to the war of aggression in Ukraine and the release of all political and civilian prisoners.