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Russian parliament backs tougher line on top crime bosses
MOSCOW, March 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Russian parliament took a key step
Tuesday towards passing legislation making it easier to jail crime bosses, in
a Kremlin-sponsored attempt to crack down on hugely powerful elite mobsters.
The bill, submitted to parliament by President Vladimir Putin and approved
in its crucial second reading, puts special focus on the punishment of top
crime bosses, and toughens responsibility for organising and leading criminal
syndicates.
“The bill will allow for the prosecution of crime bosses,” said the speaker
of parliament’s lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin.
“It is pretty difficult to do it now.”
According to various estimates, there are between 200 and 400 crime bosses
in Russia, known as “Vory v Zakone”, or Thieves in Law. Many of them are
originally from Georgia.
The Thieves in Law emerged in the Soviet-era gulags and became particularly
powerful after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The amendment, which is expected to sail through a final reading later this
week, allows for the prosecution of criminals if they admit to their status
or are informed on by others. It carries punishments of up to 15 years in
prison.
Otari Arshba, a lawmaker with the ruling United Russia party, said the key
change in the legislation would be a provision making “the simple fact of
being in charge of a criminal organisation enough” to convict crime bosses.
“A significant number of crime bosses have gathered in Russia and their
main mission is to criminalise society at large,” Arshba, who has championed
the bill, told AFP before the vote.
“This should have been nipped in the bud a long time ago but there was no
instrument.”
In the past, Russia-based mob bosses were often able to avoid prosecution
by limiting their direct involvement in criminal acts.
After the adoption of similar legislation in Georgia in 2005 soon after
Mikheil Saakashvili came to power dozens of crime bosses left for Russia and
Europe.
In Russia, top criminal bosses came under pressure after Putin came to
power there in 1999 on promises to end the lawlessness of the previous
decade.
BSS/AFP/RY/1950 hrs