The Russian authorities may begin to demand that other states prosecute Russians who have left the country. Such a bill was resubmitted to the State Duma by a group of deputies led by the chairman of the security committee, Vasily Piskarev, writes «Kommersant».
Currently, the Prosecutor General's Office can send criminal case materials to the competent authorities of another country, but only in relation to foreigners who have broken the law on Russian territory. If the bill is adopted, prosecutors will receive similar rights in relation to Russians located in other countries.
The explanatory note states that the amendments are intended to ensure the inevitability of punishment if the criminal has gone abroad and cannot be extradited to Russia, including «for reasons related to the foreign policy situation». The authors of the bill believe that foreign states refuse to extradite such Russians for political reasons but demonstrate readiness to prosecute them.
As the publication notes, a similar bill was already submitted to the Duma in August last year but was later withdrawn because it was unclear who and at what stage should assess the impossibility of in absentia proceedings. In the new version, an answer to this question has not appeared, but a formulation has emerged that the Prosecutor General's Office may contact the competent authorities of foreign states «if there are grounds».
According to lawyer Andrey Grivtsov, the proposed mechanism is difficult to implement because «many Western countries have deep distrust towards the Russian law enforcement and judicial system». On the other hand, Russian law enforcement is unlikely to actively transfer cases to other jurisdictions due to the potentially high percentage of acquittals, he believes. Exceptions may include cases of a general criminal nature with an «ironclad» evidence base.