Draft Federal Law No 200249-6 On Introducing Amendments to Article 12 of the Law of the Russian Federation On the Institutions and Bodies which Enforce Criminal Punishment in the Form of Imprisonment and Articles 12 and 54 of the Federal Law On the Police was submitted by the President of the Russian Federation.
The draft law was passed in the first reading at the State Duma on February 13, 2013.
The Government of the Russian Federation has reviewed the submitted draft law.
The draft law is aimed at delineating the powers of the federal executive bodies concerned with escorting persons, convicted for imprisonment and those taken into custody..
The draft law proposes that changes be introduced to Article 12 of the law of the Russian Federation On the Institutions and Bodies which Enforce Criminal Punishment in the Form of Imprisonment, hereinafter referred to as the Law. These changes will entrust special escort units in the penal system with conducting convoys following an established procedure along regular transport routes for convicts and arrested individuals, and will obligate police to escort individuals confined in the penal system's pre-trial detention centers and individuals arrested for investigative or court procedures (as well as to guard those individuals during proceedings). The changes will also grant the federal executive bodies responsible for the development and implementation of state policy and legal regulation in internal affairs and in punishment execution the power to regulate the procedure for the interaction of the police with institutions and bodies of the penal system in the aforementioned prisoner escort cases.
The draft law also proposes that changes be introduced to Clause 14, Section 1, Article 12 of the federal law On Police, hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law, regarding additional responsibilities imposed on the police involving the escort of individuals held in the penal system's pre-trial detention centres for investigative procedures or court hearings, as well as the guarding of the aforementioned individuals during proceedings.
At the same time, the draft law proposes that the provisions of Russian legislative acts which introduced changes to Article 12 of the Law and Article 54 of the Federal Law should be deemed to be repealed.
The amendments and changes proposed by the draft law would provide a comprehensive solution by the law enforcement bodies of the Russian Federation of the tasks for preventing, identifying, intercepting and solving offences, and also exclude federal expenditure for the implementation of the aforesaid escort functions in accordance with the current legislations by the federal executive body executing law enforcement, control and supervision in the penal system regarding convicts (according to the data of the Russian Interior Ministry, 115 billion roubles from the federal budget may be saved).
In view of the above, the Government of the Russian Federation supports the draft law.