Deputies of the State Duma of Russia in the second and third reading adopted a law on life imprisonment for crimes against the sexual integrity of minors.
Changes will be made to the Criminal Code’s articles on rape and violent acts of sexual nature.
In the current wording, both articles provide for the life imprisonment only in cases when a person has already been convicted of sexual abuse against a child under 14.
The new law expands the use of life sentences. According to the adopted amendments, in addition to recidivist pedophiles, a prison term from 15 to 20 years or life imprisonment may be imposed if the sexual offenses were committed against two or more minors or combined with commission of another serious crime against a person.
The law was written by Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the State Construction and Legislation Committee of the State Duma, Alexander Khinstein, head of the Information Policy Committee, and a Senator Andrei Turchak.
The officials began work on the bill after the murder of two ten-year-old girls in Kiselevsk in September 2021. 41-year-old Viktor Pesternikov, previously convicted of sexual crimes against minors, confessed to their rape and murder.
The bill was actively promoted by the Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. After another murder — of a five-year-old girl in Kostroma — he promised to speed up the adoption of the law. According to him, recidivist pedophiles will serve their sentences in the most severe conditions — in the northern regions and at the mines.
