Russian parliament legalizes recruitment of criminals
The Russian parliament has legalized recruiting criminals for military service in Ukraine. “The validity of the document does not extend to those previously convicted of terrorist and extremist acts and crimes against the sexual inviolability of minors,” the Russian State Duma said on Tuesday. At the same time, parliament wants to exempt Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine from criminal prosecution for minor and moderate crimes. These include theft and fraud.
During the war effort, mobilized and volunteers should not be bothered by the authorities. According to the law, it is also possible to free oneself from investigations and criminal records by receiving medals during military service or by retiring from service after being injured or having reached the age limit.
Already in the summer of last year it became known that the Wagner mercenary group had recruited criminals from prisons on a massive scale. Serious criminals are also said to have been released. In the meantime, mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is complaining that he has been denied access to Russian prisons.
However, human rights activists criticize the fact that Russia continues to recruit masses of convicts for military service. According to this, the Ministry of Defense in particular now uses the penal system to recruit soldiers. So far, however, there has been no legal basis for this.