Story highlights Bill decriminalizes first offenses that don't cause serious physical harm

Kremlin says 'creating solid families is a priority'

Moscow (CNN) A bill that would decriminalize some forms of domestic violence in Russia passed a key stage in the Duma on Wednesday.

The bill, dubbed the "slapping law," decriminalizes a first offense of domestic violence that does not seriously injure the person, making it a less serious administrative offense. The bill also includes violence against children.

More than 85% of legislators in Russia's Duma approved the bill -- seen as part of President Vladimir Putin's drive to appease conservative pushing "traditional family values" -- on Wednesday in its second reading. It will need a third reading and vote before going to the upper house and then to the president to sign into law.

The bill's sponsors, including conservative senator Yelena Mizulina, say the proposed law would simply bring family law into line with reforms passed last summer that loosened punishment for other minor assaults.

Mizulina, a staunch proponent of traditional values, was also the author of Russia's controversial "gay propaganda law," which prohibits "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships."

Read More</s>MOSCOW — A bill that would decriminalize some forms of domestic violence in Russia passed a key stage in the Duma on Wednesday.

The bill, dubbed the “slapping law,” decriminalizes a first offense of domestic violence that does not seriously injure the person, making it a less serious administrative offense. The bill also includes violence against children.

More than 85% of legislators in Russia’s Duma approved the bill — seen as part of President Vladimir Putin’s drive to appease conservative pushing “traditional family values” — on Wednesday in its second reading. It will need a third reading and vote before going to the upper house and then to the president to sign into law.

The bill’s sponsors, including conservative senator Yelena Mizulina, say the proposed law would simply bring family law into line with reforms passed last summer that loosened punishment for other minor assaults.

Mizulina, a staunch proponent of traditional values, was also the author of Russia’s controversial “gay propaganda law,” which prohibits “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships.”

The Russian Orthodox Church, with its emphasis on the traditional family, is also influencing the debate. So are the traditional rules of Russian family life, including the “domostroi,” a centuries-old manual prescribing strict rules of behavior and requiring absolute submission to the head of the family.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say whether domestic violence should be decriminalized, but told journalists that “creating solid families is a priority. It’s what everyone needs.”

Women’s rights groups have vocally opposed the bill, saying that decriminalizing assaults will only encourage more violence in a country where the rate of assaults in homes are relatively high.

Human Rights Watch has urged parliament to reject the law, calling it “dangerous and incompatible with Russia’s international human rights obligations.”

“Passage of this law would be a huge step backward for Russia, where victims of domestic violence already face enormous obstacles to getting help or justice,” said Human Rights Watch Russia researcher, Yulia Gorbunova.

Activist Alena Popova has launched a petition on Change.org demanding that the Duma pass a completely new law against domestic violence. More than 224,000 people have signed it.

When asked whether Russia needed a separate domestic violence law, Peskov told reporters Wednesday that the current bill was also aimed at preventing violence.

“If you take a look at the bill, responsibility (must be taken) in the case of a repeat offense. So over-exaggerating the responsibility for displays of family relationships would not be appropriate,” he said.

“Undoubtedly, there should be responsibility, there should be regulatory legislation which could prevent domestic violence, but comparing domestic violence to separate cases of minor importance from a legal point of view, is hardly appropriate.”

Official data on domestic violence in Russia is not centrally collected so it’s difficult to verify. But state-run news agency RIA Novosti has reported that 40% of serious crimes in Russia are committed in the family, 36,000 women are beaten by their husbands daily, and 12,000 women die yearly as a result of domestic violence — one woman every 44 minutes.</s>MOSCOW -- Legislation that would decriminalize some forms of domestic violence has advanced easily in the Russian parliament despite vehement criticism from human rights and family protection groups.

 

 The bill sailed through the second of three votes in the State Duma, Russia’s lower parliament house, with nearly unanimous support on January 25. The vote was 385-2, with one abstention.

 

 Backers say the bill will prevent the state from meddling in the affairs of families, which President Vladimir Putin has placed at the heart of a pivot toward what he casts as traditional Russian values.

 

 The legislation would reduce battery against a close relative from a criminal offense to an administrative misdemeanor.

 

 Amnesty International has called it a "sickening attempt to trivialize domestic violence."

 

 Opponents have urged lawmakers to reject the legislation and this week sought to hold a rally of protest in central Moscow but were denied permission by the city authorities.

 

 The bill will go to Putin for signature if it passes one more vote in the Duma and one in the upper house.</s>MOSCOW – A bill that would decriminalize some forms of domestic violence in Russia passed a key stage in the Duma on Wednesday.

The bill, dubbed the “slapping law”, decriminalizes a first offence of domestic violence that does not seriously injure the person, making it a less serious administrative offence. The bill also includes violence against children.

More than 85 per cent of legislators in Russia’s Duma approved the bill –– seen as part of President Vladimir Putin’s drive to appease conservative pushing “traditional family values” –– on Wednesday in its second reading. It will need a third reading and vote before going to the upper house and then to the president to sign into law.

The bill’s sponsors, including conservative senator Yelena Mizulina, say the proposed law would simply bring family law into line with reforms passed last summer that loosened punishment for other minor assaults.

Mizulina, a staunch proponent of traditional values, was also the author of Russia’s controversial “gay propaganda law”, which prohibits “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships”.

The Russian Orthodox Church, with its emphasis on the traditional family, is also influencing the debate. So are the traditional rules of Russian family life, including the “domostroi”, a centuries-old manual prescribing strict rules of behavior and requiring absolute submission to the head of the family.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say whether domestic violence should be decriminalized, but told journalists that “creating solid families is a priority. It’s what everyone needs”.

Women’s rights groups have vocally opposed the bill, saying that decriminalizing assaults will only encourage more violence in a country where the rate of assaults in homes are relatively high.

Human Rights Watch has urged parliament to reject the law, calling it “dangerous and incompatible with Russia’s international human rights obligations”.

“Passage of this law would be a huge step backward for Russia, where victims of domestic violence already face enormous obstacles to getting help or justice,” said Human Rights Watch Russia researcher, Yulia Gorbunova.

Official data on domestic violence in Russia is not centrally collected so it’s difficult to verify. But state-run news agency RIA Novosti has reported that 40 per cent of serious crimes in Russia are committed in the family, 36,000 women are beaten by their husbands daily, and 12,000 women die yearly as a result of domestic violence –– one woman every 44 minutes.</s>Russian members of parliament moved on Wednesday to decriminalise some forms of domestic violence for first-time offenders who do not cause serious physical harm to their victims.

Members of the state Duma passed the controversial amendment to the Russian criminal code in its second reading, which essentially assures it will go to president Vladimir Putin for his signature.

The amendment treats a first conviction for domestic assault as an administrative offence, carrying a penalty of a 30,000 ruble (€470) fine or 15 days in jail. If Mr Putin signs the measure into law, only injuries such as concussions or broken bones, or repeated offences committed in a family setting, would lead to criminal charges.

Defenders of the measure say it will protect parents’ rights to discipline their children and generally reduce the state’s role in domestic life.

“In the traditional Russian family culture, relations between ‘fathers and sons’ are built upon the authority of parents’ power, mutual love and personal indispensability as the basis for children’s upbringing,” said Yelena Mizulina, one of the initiators of the new legislation and author of a law that banned “gay propaganda” aimed at minors.

Opponents called it a step back to medieval times and a licence for violent behaviour by domestic tyrants.

“It is clear that lawmakers recognised violence as a norm of family life,” said Svetlana Aivazova, a Russian specialist in gender studies. “This shows that Duma deputies are not simply conservative or traditional: it shows that they are archaic.”

Ms Aivazova and other experts say Russia has a serious problem with domestic violence. Citing data provided by the interior ministry, she told Mr Putin in 2015 that “40 per cent of all grave violent crimes are committed in families”.

In 2013, she said, more than 9,000 women died in criminal assaults and more than 11,000 were badly injured. In 2014, she said, “more than 25 per cent of all murders were committed in families”.

Ms Aivazova asked the president to support a special law on the prevention of domestic violence that had already been passed in 143 countries, including Russia’s post-Soviet neighbours Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Mr Putin thanked her, but the law remained in the Duma, and Ms Aivazova said she was not optimistic about its prospects.

In the past, Mr Putin has expressed concern about domestic violence, even in the absence of serious injury. “I think we should not slap children and justify it based on some old traditions,” he told journalists at his last news conference in December. “There is a short distance from slaps to beating.”

The new legislation was pushed by conservative members of the Russian parliament and the Russian Orthodox Church. They were incensed last summer when lawmakers criminalised domestic violence, acting upon a recommendation by the supreme court.

The church, which has steadily increased its influence on social policy in recent years, said in a statement last year that physical punishment was a Russian tradition and thus should be protected as “an essential right given to parents by God”.

“There is absolutely no doubt that children should be defended against true criminal activities,” the church said. “But you cannot equate such criminal assaults with rational and moderate use of physical punishment by loving parents.”

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the state Duma, said the new legislation was a sign of the state’s determination to “make conditions for strong families to emerge”.</s>The Russian parliament on Wednesday gave its overwhelming backing to a draft law that would ease some penalties for domestic violence, alarming women’s rights campaigners who fear it will encourage abuse.

The law, which the State Duma or lower house of parliament, passed in its second of three readings by 385 votes to two, would reduce battery of a relative to a civil offence instead of a criminal offence in first instances, when the victim suffered no serious harm.

Those who support the proposed change, including members of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, say they want to protect parents’ right to discipline their children and to reduce the state’s ability to meddle in family life.

“This is a historic vote because in certain countries the state’s role in family life is way too much,” said Andrei Isayev, a deputy representing United Russia. “Today’s vote will end such practices in the Russian Federation.”

Supporters of the amendment say anyone who inflicts serious physical harm will still be criminally liable.

But women’s rights campaigners say it is a retrograde step.

“This law calls for the exoneration of tyrants in the home,” says Maria Mokhova, executive director of the “Sisters” crisis centre for abuse victims.

“The message is: “Let’s not punish a person who at home beat up his family, just because he has the right to do that,” she told Reuters.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call it was important to distinguish between “family relations” and repeated instances of violence.

To become law, the draft must go through a further reading and win approval from the upper house of parliament.

Each year, about 14,000 women die in Russia at the hands of husbands or other relatives, according to a 2010 United Nations report.

Yekaterina Schulmann, a political analyst specialising in parliamentary matters, said Russia should consider drafting a new law to specifically target domestic violence.

“At the very least, such a law should envisage introducing restraining orders, a measure that is currently absent from Russian law, to protect family members who are at risk of violence,” said Schulmann.

It could also set up shelters for victims, she added.</s>Controversial plans to partially decriminalize domestic violence in Russia took a step towards becoming law on Wednesday after Russian MPs approved a second reading of the legislation.

The State Duma voted overwhelmingly in favour of a legal amendment that would end criminal liability for battery of family members that does not cause bodily harm and is not a repeat offence.

The bill would instead make domestic battery equivalent to minor assault, which is an administrative offence punishable by a 30,000 ruble (£412) fine, 15 days in jail, or 120 hours of community service.

Ultra conservative MPs and activists pushing the bill say the current law criminalizes parents spanking their children but allow strangers to do so with impunity.

Women’s right campaigners have bitterly opposed the amendment, saying it would lift one of very few protections against domestic violence.

Activists picketed the Duma on Wednesday morning to oppose the bill. An online petition against it has attracted more than 200,000 signatures.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — In Russia, giving one’s spouse a slap is nothing extraordinary for many people. This week, the Russian parliament is expected to take a step closer toward decriminalizing it altogether.

Battery is a criminal offense in Russia, but nearly 20 percent of Russians openly say they think it is sometimes OK to hit a spouse or a child. In a bid to accommodate conservative voters, deputies in the lower house of parliament have given initial approval to a bill eliminating criminal liability for domestic violence that stops short of serious bodily harm or rape.

If the measure passes its second reading in the Duma Jan. 25, when the draft can be changed, approval in the third and final reading would be a foregone conclusion. From the Duma, it would proceed to the upper house, largely a rubber-stamp body, and then to President Vladimir Putin’s desk.

Data on domestic violence in Russia are obscure, but Interior Ministry statistics show that 40 percent of all violent crimes in Russia are committed in family surroundings. In 2013, more than 9,000 women were reported to have been killed in incidents of domestic violence.

The bill stems from a Supreme Court ruling last summer to decriminalize battery that doesn’t inflict bodily harm, but to retain criminal charges for those accused of battery against family members. Conservative activists objected, saying the ruling meant a parent spanking a child could be punished more harshly than a non-relative striking the child.

Ultra-conservative lawmaker Yelena Mizulina, who also authored Russia’s “gay propaganda” ban, then introduced the bill to decriminalize domestic violence. It initially was shelved after a disapproving review from the government.

Tables turned at the end of the year when a journalist from a conservative publication pressed Putin about it at his annual news conference.

“If the father spanks his child for a good reason as a means of education, a traditional Russian one, he will be sentenced to two years in prison —and if a neighbor does this, he will get away with a fine!” the journalist told Putin.

Putin replied that “it’s better not to spank children and refer to some traditions,” but then said, “We should not go overboard with it (punishment for battery). It’s not good, it harms families.”

The bill would make battery on a family member punishable by a fine of less than 30,000 rubles ($500) or a 15-day arrest.

The Moscow-based Anna Center foundation, which runs Russia’s only domestic violence hotline, received more than 5,000 calls last year. The foundation says many more calls that go unanswered since the line operates only between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The Duma bill “is not going to improve the situation to say the least,” said Irina Matvienko, who runs the hotline.

“Domestic violence is a system which makes it difficult for a woman to seek help,” she said. “It’s not a traditional value. It’s a crime.”

Calls to the Anna Center hotline show that a lot of Russian women initially don’t even realize that domestic violence is an offense, Matvienko says.

A survey this month by state-run pollster VTsIOM showed that 19 percent of Russians say “it can be acceptable” to hit one’s wife, husband or child “in certain circumstances.” The nationwide poll by phone of 1,800 people was held Jan. 13-15. The survey had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Russian police are notoriously reluctant to react to domestic violence calls, which many regard as meddling in family affairs. Prosecutors in November began investigating a police officer who took a call from a woman complaining about her boyfriend’s aggressive behavior. Instead of offering help, the officer reportedly told the woman that the police would only come if she got killed. Shortly thereafter, the man beat the woman to death, prosecutors say.

Activist Alyona Popova, whose online petition against the bill has attracted more than 180,000 signatures, sees the efforts to decriminalize domestic violence as a continuation of the Kremlin’s increasingly aggressive policies after several repressive laws targeting various groups, from foreign-funded NGOs to gay people.

“I think it’s part of an overall ideology: aggression and violence are on the rise in society in general since war is everywhere and we’re surrounded by enemies,” Popova said, referring to the state media narrative that portrays Russia as a besieged fortress.

Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland earlier this week sent a letter to the speakers of both houses of Russia’s parliament, expressing deep concern at the legislation. Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin dismissed the letter as an “unacceptable” attempt to influence parliament.

Olga Batalina, one of the bill’s co-authors, said in the Duma last week that the penalty for battery should be lenient for acts of violence “committed in an emotional conflict, without malice, without grave consequences.”

“Battery doesn’t even involve grave bodily harm. We’re only talking about bruises, scratches, which is bad, too, of course,” Batalina said.

“Has anyone tried going around with a bruise for a week?” deputy Oleg Nilov asked Batalina at the hearing. “Does anyone think it’s OK?”

There haven’t been any significant protests against the bill so far.

Activist Popova is not surprised: discussing domestic violence still is taboo in Russia.

“Society is judgmental,” she said. “It goes like this: you’re a bad woman if you allow this to happen to you, or you’re airing dirty laundry and you’re to blame, or it’s he beats you it means he loves you. And a lot of people don’t want to go public about it.”</s>Domestic abuse once carried a two-year jail penalty. — AFP picMOSCOW, Jan 25 — Russian MPs today backed a controversial bill reducing the punishment for some forms of domestic violence in a crucial second reading, despite protests from rights activists.

The amendments reduce the penalty for violence against family members—including spouses and children—as long as it is a first offence and does not cause serious injury, making it punishable by a fine of up to 30,000 rubles (RM2,246).

Currently violence against a family member that does not cause serious physical injury is defined as battery, punishable by up to two years in jail.

Amnesty International last week appealed to Russia’s parliament not to pass the bill, condemning it as a “sickening attempt to trivialize domestic violence.”

Moscow city authorities this week refused permission for a rally organised by opponents of the bill with the slogan “Stop violence in the family, monsters should go to jail”.

After Wednesday’s passing, the bill now only needs to get through a third technical reading expected Friday before it goes before the upper house and then to President Vladimir Putin for a final signature.

The bill’s authors say the new measure removes a legal anomaly and will reduce domestic violence by giving first-time abusers a chance to reform.

Conservative backers of the bill have nicknamed this the “law on slaps,” complaining domestic violence is overly harshly punished.

“If you slap your naughty child, you risk up to two years in jail. If your neighbour does the same, it would end with a fine,” one of the bill’s authors, Senator Yelena Mizulina, wrote on her site on Wednesday.

She complained the current law allows a criminal case to be opened on evidence from “a child in a huff against their parents.”

But lawyer Maxim Krupsky told RBK news site that “decriminalisation could untie the hands of people who potentially could commit domestic violence.”

Parliament on Wednesday threw out Communist Party proposals to exclude attacks on pregnant women and children from decriminalisation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave the bill apparent backing, telling journalists that “blowing out of proportion and calling for (criminal) responsibility for various manifestations of family relations would hardly be effective.”

In Russia’s still deeply patriarchal society, there is little public discussion of domestic violence and a popular saying goes: “If he beats you, it means he loves you.”

A poll by state agency VTsIOM in January found 19 percent of Russians thought violence against partners or children could be acceptable in some circumstances.

According to the state statistics agency, in 2015 there were 49,579 crimes involving violence in the family, of those 35,899 involving violence against a woman. — AFP</s>As women's marches took over the streets of major cities on Saturday (21 January), a group of women in Russia are struggling to obtain permission to protest a bill that would decriminalise domestic violence.

The organisers were seeking permission to hold a rally on 28 January in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, a largely pedestrian area south of the Kremlin and the Red Square where a mass rally against President Vladimir Putin was held in 2012. They submitted their request on 17 January, ahead of the 10-day deadline for such requests and estimated around 1000 participants.

The response from Moscow's mayoral office baffled them. It rejected the application stating: "There [were] no grounds for [organisers] to hold a public event with the declared number of participants." It also said that holding the event would interfere with the movement of pedestrians and vehicles across the city, "violating the rights of the citizens who are not participating in this event".

The women had been prepared to encounter some form of resistance, considering the government's intolerance of opposition views, especially when expressed through public protests. "I can't say that we are surprised, but we did not expect that we will be interfered in the implementation of our constitutional rights in such an explicit form. We understood that everything possible would be done to make us keep silent but it was a surprise that government played unlawfully," one of the group's spokespersons, Maria Kogan, told IBTimes UK. "The fact that we have to ask permission for our constitutional right is sad in and of itself, and the reasons of denial are baseless."

The organisers know their rights, as the three women who started the group were all students at Moscow State Academy of Law. The group grew to a core 16 members who started working organising a protest through Facebook and VKontakte (Russia's most popular social network), united by their feminist ideals and the desire to improve the status of women in their countries.

The group is however fighting back. They are appealing against the mayor's rejection, as they were not offered an alternative place for the rally, as required under the law. They are also applying for a permit for a new rally, in Solniki park on 4 February. The park's location, in the northern part of Moscow is not ideal, as it would not get as much attention. "This is a common theme with all of the rallies now, they are pushed to the sides, away from the public eye," Kogan complained. "But the problem with this law is pretty obvious and, if the law get through, it may affect a lot of people, so I believe people will join us anyway, and anywhere".

How the law would change

The bill decriminalising domestic violence passed a first reading in the Russian parliament (Duma), on 11 January, with an overwhelming majority of 368 votes in favour, one against and one abstention. The bill was proposed by Yelena Mizulina, a conservative MP chair of the parliamentary committee on family issues.

One of the main proponents of the "gay propaganda" laws, Mizulina first proposed the bill on 27 July. "Battery carried out toward family members should be an administrative offence. You don't want people to be imprisoned for two years and labelled a criminal for the rest of their lives for a slap," she said.

The bill will undergo a second reading on 25 January. It would make domestic violence - defined as the beating of a relative - a civil offence, punishable with a fine of up to 30,000 roubles (£405), arrest lasting between 10 or 15 days, or 60 to 120 hours of compulsory labour (which was introduced at the beginning of the year as an alternative to imprisonment). It would be treated as a criminal offence should the beating occur more than once a year, or if the crime was perpetrated as an act of hooliganism (which in Russian law encompasses any breach of public order) or is motivated by hatred or enmity. In this case, the punishment would be either compulsory labour or imprisonment up to two years.

While some activists were sceptical about the law's chances of success, Kogan said their group is concerned: "It is possible that this law will be approved, that is why we are doing everything we can to be heard by the authorities."

In less than two weeks, the protest gathered more support than the organisers were expecting, but they also faced criticism. Some accused them of ignoring male victims of domestic violence, although the organisers never claimed the rally would be for women only. Others told them they misunderstood the law. "In the Russian media this law is called 'law about the slap'," Kogan explained, saying that people think it would prevent children from being taken away from their parents if they have some accidental bruises. Other critics told them that nobody would attend the rally.

In fact, the women's rally is not the only protest against the law in Russia. "Women in Irkutsk [one of the largest cities in Siberia] decided to support us and they have their own meeting on 28 January. In several other cities there were protests too," Kogan said.

The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko, a centre-left opposition party with currently no representation in the parliament have launched a campaign against the law. They invited people to speak out on social media, using the hashtag: "I'm against the law on decriminalisation of domestic violence".

Other activists have staged one-person protests, standing outside the Duma holding signs against the law. "I give birth to you, I kill you," read the sign held by women's rights activist Alena Popova, who plans to protest outside the parliament on the day of the second reading. The activist's banner, cited statistics stating that, of the 50,780 people suffering from domestic violence in 2015, 11,756 were minors. The same statistics show that 36,493 were women, and 5% were men.

According to official figures quoted by the UK foreign office, 12,000 women are killed in episodes of domestic violence in Russia, one every 40 minutes. The scale of the problem is slowly gaining momentum in the country. In 2016, a social media campaign invited people to share their experiences of sexual assault, domestic abuse and gender-based violence using the hashtag: "I am not afraid to speak." Thousands of stories poured in, breaking the wall of silence.

The progress in openly talking about abuse has also helped highlight cases of historical sexual assault. At the end of August, journalist Ekatina Kronhous published a post on Facebook about an investigation conducted by a former alumna of School 57 in Moscow, revealing that a history teacher had sexual relations with underage students for 16 years. A month later, the authorities opened a criminal case against the teacher, Boris Meyerson. The school is a mix-gender institute where the Russian elite send their children, and is comparable to Eton's status in the UK. The scandal could no longer be ignored and it shook Russian society.

"This is an unprecedented and momentous event," Maria Mokhova, a director at Moscow's women's refuge Syostry (meaning 'sisters' in Russian) told the Moscow Times in July. "It is a big step forward for society as a whole to finally get rid of the taboo of talking about sexual abuse."

The massive scale of the women's marches on Saturday has impressed and inspired the women's group. In Russia, such protests are increasingly difficult to organise, partly due to the bureaucratic obstacles and partly because many have lost faith in the power of protest to achieve change. The women's group, however, have not lost all hope. "We were really glad to see so many women unite under the idea of standing up for their rights," Kogan said. "We are all full of enthusiasm and we do not intend to give up the fight."
The Russian Duma backs a law decriminalizing a first instance of domestic violence that does "not seriously injure" the person, making it an administrative offense. The bill also includes violence against children.