Russian parliamentarians are preparing a bill to toughen penalties for pedophilia. Representatives of the A Just Russia party proposed to add to Articles 99 (“Types of compulsory measures of a medical nature”) and 101.1 (“Forced treatment in a medical organization providing psychiatric care in inpatient conditions”) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation a provision on the forced introduction into the body of “drugs that suppress sexual desire."
Related article What is wrong with opponents of the return of the death penalty? The bill proposes to subject people who have committed crimes against children under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to chemical castration (therapy with antiandrogen drugs that block the action of the male sex hormone - testosterone, which leads to the suppression of sexual desire). This is Art. 131 (“Rape”), Art. 132 (“Violent acts of a sexual nature”), Art. 133 (“Forcing to perform actions of a sexual nature”), Art. 134 (“Sexual intercourse and other actions of a sexual nature with a person under sixteen years of age”) and Art. 135 (“Depraved acts”). Deputies explained the need to consider such a bill by the growing number of crimes against minors, which has amounted to 20% since 2021.
How will pedophiles be punished?
The State Duma in the first reading adopted a bill introducing life imprisonment for crimes of a sexual nature against children under 14 years of age. As practice shows, in this case the law successfully passes two other readings in the lower house, and then it is approved by the Federation Council without any problems.
This means that for the foreseeable future, pedophiles will be prevented from repeating their crimes after leaving prison. According to the current version of Art. 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 years is punishable by up to four years in prison. If the victim is under 14 years old, the offender faces up to ten years . Life imprisonment is possible if a crime against the sexual integrity of a minor is repeated.
In addition to life imprisonment for pedophiles, deputies also approved a provision to suspend the statute of limitations for crimes of a sexual nature against children . If the law is passed, the statute of limitations for undetected crimes against young children “will not run until the victim reaches the age of majority.”
Main news on the topic
Punishments for pedophiles in Russia will be toughened. Teachers and relatives of children will be imprisoned for life
Unsafe neighbor
By the end of the 90s, Canada, Great Britain, France and a number of European countries began to apply the American experience. True, without using additional and very important practices characteristic of the United States. The fact is that since 1996, all American states, one after another, have adopted “Megan’s Law,” named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was brutally raped and then killed by 33-year-old Jesse Timmendekas, who lived next door. There is an important point in this story: before the case that shocked all of America, Timmendekas had already served time for the rape of two minor girls and even underwent a specific treatment procedure.
Photo from lehighvalleylive.com
Seven-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and killed by Jesse Timmendekas, 33, who lived next door.
Scary stories that will never happen again
They have been talking about tougher punishment for pedophiles in Russia for a long time. And this is a really difficult problem. The explanatory note to the bill states that in 2021 alone, 9.6 thousand children were victims of sexual assault, half of whom suffered from sexual violence . Last year, the Investigative Committee opened 13.5 thousand criminal cases for crimes committed against the sexual integrity of minors, and about 5.8 thousand were opened in 2021. Often these crimes are committed by those who have already been convicted of pedophilia. And in the case of a life sentence, relapse of the crime could be avoided.
There are clear stories that prove that even one stint in prison does not change some pedophiles. Thus, on June 26, in Lyubertsy near Moscow, a 48-year-old local resident who raped a 9-year-old girl was sentenced to 17 years in a special regime colony. Before this, as stated in the Investigative Directorate for the Moscow Region, the man had already been convicted twice for similar crimes.
On June 7, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, a 56-year-old resident of the Perm Territory was sentenced, who was found guilty of sexual assault against three girls aged 9 to 13 years. The man committed the crimes almost immediately after leaving prison, where he was sentenced for similar crimes . As a result, the attacker went to a special regime colony for 16 years.
On June 4, in Komi, a 48-year-old resident of Syktyvkar was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security colony, who was found guilty of sexual assault against six boys aged 8 to 12 years. According to investigators, the defendant already had a criminal record for a previously committed crime against the sexual integrity of minors against two 14-year-old teenagers. For this, the man served six and a half years and was released.
On May 17, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, a court sentenced a 53-year-old man who raped his friend’s little daughter. It turned out that he had already been convicted in 2004 for a similar crime committed in Chita. As a result, the pedophile received 18 years of imprisonment in a special regime colony with the use of compulsory medical measures.
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Humane... castration
It is clear that in European countries where human rights organizations are traditionally strong, an analogue of Megan’s Law has not yet gained popularity. In liberal Europe, they are confident that chemical castration of pedophiles is quite sufficient, since it has too many side effects for the human body. For example, rapists who have undergone chemotherapy have a high chance of developing osteoporosis (
a disease associated with a decrease in bone density
)
, or immediately gain excessive excess weight. But human rights activists are even more outraged by the “medieval approach” to solving the problem of pedophilia, practiced in Germany and the Czech Republic.
Despite protests from human rights activists, Germany and the Czech Republic are confident that chemical castration is not effective.
Scary stories that will get even scarier
Such messages can be found several dozen, or even hundreds, on the websites of regional investigative departments of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. However, there are also controversial stories that cause controversy in society. There have been high-profile cases in global judicial practice when innocent people spent huge sentences for crimes against children that they did not actually commit. If life imprisonment is introduced, it will be much more difficult for innocent convicts who end up behind bars forever to prove their innocence, and the chances of being released will be reduced to zero.
So, in 2009, American James Bain, who spent 35 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a child, was released . The man was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1974. It was only three decades later that DNA analysis showed that Bane was innocent. In 2021, Tomasz Komenda was released from prison in Poland, having served 18 years for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, which he did not actually commit . The man intends to collect from the state one million zlotys for each year of imprisonment.
A high-profile trial occurred not so long ago in Russia. In 2011, Anatoly Ryabov, a teacher at the Central Music School at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, was accused of pedophilia. Two of his students, 13 and 14 years old, stated that the teacher pestered them during classes, grabbed their private parts, and tried to kiss them. Ryabov was detained, but then released on bail of 1.5 million rubles. As a result, the jury found the musician not guilty, and Ryabov himself sued the state for 2.3 million rubles. for the costs of litigation . He told Dozhd about the reasons why Anatoly Ryabov ended up in the dock.
Anatoly Ryabov, teacher, former accused of pedophilia:
“I just really refused to work and I think that this was simply revenge on the part of my parents in this matter.” In general, I have been in teaching for 40 years. I refused, but I haven’t been accused of pedophilia for more than 40 years.
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It is about the imperfections of the judicial system and possible mistakes that human rights activists speak against the introduction of life imprisonment on charges of child abuse. For example, the chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva criticized the bill back in February 2021.
The human rights activist agrees that pedophilia is a serious crime for which there should be severe punishment. But, in her opinion, the document should not be adopted until the imperfections of the Russian judicial system are corrected.
Lyudmila Alekseeva, Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group:
“Unfortunately, we like to label people as pedophiles who actually have nothing to do with it. And given what an ugly court we have, giving life imprisonment, as well as execution, is very cruel. Because it is unknown which of us will become pedophiles. You and I can get there too.
There are some criminal cases and trials that cause controversy in society. In particular, the case against the head of the Karelian “Memorial” Yuri Dmitriev, who was first accused of producing child pornography, and in the end the court issued an acquittal. Many famous public and cultural figures stood up for the man: writers Dmitry Bykov and Boris Akunin, musician Boris Grebenshchikov, director Andrei Zvyagintsev and others.
However, the criminal prosecution of Dmitriev did not end there. At the end of June, the Investigative Directorate for the Republic of Karelia charged the head of the Karelian Memorial with sexual abuse of his adopted minor daughter. After this, Dmitriev was detained and arrested until August 26.
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Not everyone agrees with the verdict of the former confessor of the Zenit football players, Gleb Grozovsky. He was found guilty of molesting three minor girls and sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security colony. The verdict was passed, and Grozovsky was already transferred to a colony in the Murmansk region, that is, the clergyman’s guilt was proven both by the investigation and by the court. However, there are those who consider the case to be fabricated. For example, at the trial, expert psychologist Irina Gorkovaya qualified the testimony of the victims as a “childish slander.” St. Petersburg psychiatrist and sexologist Vladimir Efremov doubted the credibility of the girls’ stories about the behavior of their mentor.
In Yekaterinburg, a scandal surrounding a criminal case against a fitness trainer, who was accused of pedophilia after the man sat on the same couch with a 7-year-old girl, is also gaining momentum. Aleksey, an employee of the Ya-Fitness club, has been in pre-trial detention for 8 months. The incident occurred on November 18, 2021 at the fitness club where the trainer worked. Alexey was sitting on the sofa and filling out a magazine, and at that time a 7-year-old girl, who was waiting for her parents, sat down next to him. According to investigators, Alexey masturbated in front of the child. He himself denies the accusations against himself. His wife Olga during the direct line appealed to President Vladimir Putin with a request to help sort out the situation. As the wife of the accused stated in an interview with Znak.com, this whole story may be connected with competition between two fitness clubs. The victim’s mother’s cohabitant, Vasily Dyakonov, as the publication states, is a co-founder of the competing gym Future Fitness.
On the one hand, the numbers speak for themselves. In recent years, many horror stories have occurred and severe sentences have been handed down to the perpetrators. However, controversial cases periodically emerge when the accused may become a victim of a slander. Sometimes an accusation of sexual abuse of children is a way to influence your opponent, enemy, or relative. With tougher penalties, the stakes will rise and the number of high-profile child molestation scandals may increase. And each such case must be investigated extremely carefully and carefully.
Rubbed body
Maxim L., a 43-year-old teacher, was hired in 2021. Upon employment, the man presented a certificate of no criminal record issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to preliminary information, this document turned out to be genuine, so the school authorities had no grounds for refusing admission.
Now the facts of the biography of a possible pedophile until 2018 are being established. Currently, the investigation knows of two 13-year-old boys who were injured as a result of the actions of a biology teacher. The man allegedly asked one of them to undress and rubbed various parts of his body against him.
pixabay.com/
Steel arms
Sticks, knives, bottles are the subjects of photographs by photographer Dirk Dähmlow. The series, called “Calling a Spade a Spade,” depicts the abuse of women from Germany, Russia, Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Zambia and Burkina Faso.
Artists speak out against violence
Schools and sports clubs are a breeding ground for pedophilia
According to Anna Levchenko, coaches and teachers in educational institutions are a classic type of pedophile.
“A pedophile is such a story that a child almost always, in 99% of cases, knows his rapist. We're not talking about maniacs who rape people in hallways. We are talking about those who seduce - they get into their heads first, and then into their panties. This person has power over the child; he is a significant adult for him. It’s much easier to send a left-handed guy in the yard who pesters you than a coach on whom your career depends,” the lawyer clarified.
At the same time, she believes that men should not be afraid to go to work in school because of this if they really love this profession. False accusations of pedophilia may occur, but it is not something that happens all the time. In addition, you can always fight off such accusations.
“There are several thousand cases where a man was unfoundedly accused of pedophilia, but this is not in schools and institutes, but in family stories. The most common false accusation of pedophilia is in a divorce case, when the parents share a child, and the mother writes a statement saying that she does not want the child to be left alone with the father, because the daughter told me that he sexually harassed her while she was bathing in the bathroom. soul. This is the most common story,” Levchenko explained.
She added that if you are afraid of accusations of pedophilia, then you can not only not go to school, but also not get married, not have children, or not communicate with anyone. The chance of being falsely accused is approximately the same as when a person walks along Nevsky Prospekt as a law-abiding citizen, and a police squad takes him in, plants him with drugs and puts him in prison for it. These situations are absolutely no different.
Nevskie News / Anastasia Kuzmina
Fight for life
November 25 is designated by the UN as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in memory of the Mirabal sisters, who were killed for resisting the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Drawing attention to the problem of violence is the task of the artists whose works are exhibited at the Women's Museum in Bonn. The paintings in the series “Kurdish women and their struggle for life” were written by refugees from Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Artists speak out against violence
Previously, facts of harassment were hidden
According to Levchenko, the number of such criminal cases has increased due to the fact that previously such facts were hidden, but now people are not afraid to tell the truth.
“The fact that there have been a lot of criminal cases and court decisions, I think, is more good news than bad. It seems to me that this is not due to the fact that there are more pedophiles, but to the fact that this topic has become less taboo and children have become a little different against the background of information. It is now normal to talk about sexual violence. You no longer have to be particularly afraid that if someone finds out, they will begin to humiliate you. It seems to me that people simply stopped being afraid to defend their rights and think in the format of “washing dirty linen in public.” Nowadays, few people think like this, only if you take some kind of outback. And if we take into account that this is St. Petersburg, a fairly progressive city, and the legal consciousness of its residents is slightly different from the legal consciousness of the residents of some provincial town or village. People are more legally literate, more well-read,” explained the leader of the “Snack the Pedophile!” movement.
Nevskie News / Anastasia Barashkova
