hello again the welcome to spotlight. on r.t. i'll bring up until my guest in the studio is. kind of on. one of the milestones of the mystery medvedev presidency is the reform of the russian penitentiary system which many consider pretty outdated revolutionary amendments into the country's law intent to abolish prison punishment for low profile crimes may this be true and are we still to expect new major changes we're asking the minister of justice alexander payne our. president in there if there is a lawyer so it's not surprising he's pushing forward reforms which can improve the lawyer russia and unload the crowded prisons he's offering to substitute imprisonment with a softer but fair punishment the courts crown the convicted into already

overstuffed prisons because the law prescribes time in jail for petty crime also people often cannot defend themselves or wrecked within the law because they just don't know what the laws are eliminating the so called legal illiteracy is also among present investors priorities. is to kind of elephant thank you very much for being with us on the share of mushroom thank you well first of all the government is beginning to. to to start a reform which is aimed at liberalizing the punishment system so for what kind of crimes the punishment will be eased what should be oh actually spoken should not say that this is a liberalizing as a test. i should better say some kind of making the system operate magic memoriam and more transparent as well absolutely right when talking about their. present day

but it is resisting the russian federation as about an outdated system sometimes we even can have to confess that in some respects the system as a courtesy of the gulag system and it's a terrible situation right now because that the country is absolutely different from those previous times it's enough for different from the period of twenty or thirty years ago that's why of course we have to work out the system that is more effective and absolutely more transparent than it is now can you confirm the reports in some of the russian media that that the punishment for theft and robbery will be softened and the new law is a true i should say it will be soft it because it changed as the system of a given this punishment will be changed i hope so and their practice of the courts are going or course will be changed in russia for the duration because of this new draft of the law that's been discussed by president innovative and his deputies the

previous week what are they talking about we're talking about the so-called low limits of the criminal punishment as imprisonment. in the present day system we have absolutely probably. at least. almost all the criminal codes articles the punishment for example from four years till twelve years and this study a lot of limits for their court practice now days where saying about their reduction of the article from zero to twelve years and that means that their real a serious or a really serious criminals are not saying about the manslaughters but the robbers thieves and some serious hola guns will still be a punished to the real a serious maximum punishment at the same time when a court is taking care or some other case when it could be more mild to punish the

criminal but not to break his life at all absolutely and this case the court will have an opportunity to do it. i have read that as a result of the reform you expect well i mean you get your ministry expects the number of inmates in russian prisoners to drop by one third as a hope so how many people are in jail today known as the this figure is enormous to my mind it's around eight hundred eighty thousand people nearly a million illegal are it's in jail and sometimes even more close to the mill and it's more than one hundred thousand i have read more than once in the papers that in russia like every third person in the country has been in jail is that true i don't think so but we have such a bad future if we not stop. does it mean i mean reducing the number of in the

doesn't mean that a large portion up to one third of the people who are imprisoned in russia today really present no threat to society well you know the first idea that we are trying to negotiate is to reduce the quality of the people be imprisoned as a punishment for the criminal crime because they are of no real because a because the crime and also serious and dangerous for the society this is the first thirty or the second one is to reduce the terms of their imprisonment because nowadays it's much higher than generally in the most of the developed. western countries and the countries all over the world for example in norway is for i know it's only around half a year on. a minimum term of imprisonment and as for russia it's probably more than six years so releasing releasing people out of jail doesn't mean that me my family

and my my kid will be surrounded by dangerous criminals who are really a horse of course and their main idea is that it's not their leave it all is asian itself it's not the determination of the liability or missouri's and criminals and all of them that will still get as much as it is necessary to punish them and to make the society safe from their benteke to exist but at the same time and the third thirty what i'm talking about is. the spreading of the use of the so-called alternative measures of imprisonment it's also a well developed brand all over the world right now will let a little let's talk about these alternative measures which have never been really popular in this country not the russian oil that i think you know if they were what is finds correctional labor what else has its so-called obligatorily of us and it sir. limited freedom one the person also still is

not in prison not isolated from a suicide but at the same time his freedom is a little bit limited and his behavior is a little bit under some supervision of the state authorities and quite a lot of them i think it's a very very important way to change their criminal policy. of this site and i've spoken about this alternative measures is not in forcing people to go for these punishments but just motivating them to do it themselves not being supervised by the. policeman for example and many here is that if the person is not trying to. make all the obligation. to do it is do or make their standards of the. other criminal court to be implemented in this case here or she will have

a threat of being punished more seriously for example sent to the prism so this is the man idea so so so as usual one of the main main aims of your work as a minister of justice is to make the punishment and never double is that true just ok you said recently that long imprisonment only leads to receipt of isn't as the prison inmates lose touch with the society and become part of the criminal world law rather than staying a part of the society how long does an average prisoner say stay in confinement today and will it change as as a result of the new reforms as i hope so and so this is the main the main goal of the. draft law that is being discussed and probably will signed by a president in very few of the russian parliament so we hope there. average terms

of imprisonment. will come close to a probably two or three years average i think sickly and today it is i think today small a six or seven months six are. ok today the prosecution is asking for fourteen years more in prison for her that across can lead to give they are accused for four for economic fraud how does this correspond to the principle of the reform that we're talking about. well what about going to. myself com and their particular case because i don't know the details and the devil is in the day as we know it but as far as the economy crimes are being concerned my . my my idea and i do believe that the. most popular punishment for this economical. crimes should be the big fines be the big fines not imprisonment of course of course you've economical crimes are not combine with some

more serious criminal activities e.u. you mentioned before in this interview that that a court should try to help the person to to to really to really to correct his behavior and not always try to ruin his life ah there are cases when a court may set a girl to ruin person's life i should say that it's not problem of the goal of the court to a correct somebody whose life is main idea its main task is just to to punish to develop it correctly their particular case and to punish it in a bra and transferred way and out of that but a different system of the country itself should or create their optimal possibilities for everybody who would like to wrest socialize from self and to became a project of society again. i should say we have to build up some kind of social

elevators from the bottom of the society to at least zero stage and that's why i think they're great the main idea of their courts to it is is just to. want to somewhat it correctly more closely to the case says alexander can of all of russian justice minister spotlight will be back shortly so stay with us then we will continue the. world with the coosa gilman's contain explosive. material strict limits to seal slides middle of the magic has better planes in the sky seeds of hope to

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market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cancer the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. welcome back to spotlight and i would often just to remind you that my guest in the studio today is alex on that a kind of fall off russian justice minister we're talking about the reform in the russian judicial system mr can of the russian penitentiary system is often criticized by my colleagues in the russian press and the russian media and often it has been in the center of scandals for the conditions in which the inmates are serving. their duties and sometimes they're equal to torture.

will the reform lead to the change in this respect i should say actually the things are already great or changed in the system during the last probably eight or ten years because of all the cases that have been on the agenda although i say european human rights courts are the cases of the ninety's of the end of ninety's to begin of the. when is and no day the situation greatly changed. and there are times there are conditions so for in judgement we are really really terrible i should say i was once upon a investigate and super wise and prosecutor myself i can prove myself by my own experience and probably their practice of the european human rights courts is when i was based on their own it's own through impressions we're probably you know

that even the only fact of the imprisonment was. understood by the burning human rights courts as being equal to the torturing so it's of course a disgust and situation for russia. as a big nation as a civilized country said they have improved over the last decade or so but that doesn't mean that they still need improvement because of it because people continue their case when people die in prison because of lack of medical system things like this that absolute truth and of course this is the system of the station is quite far from being ideal and as far as the medical services are being concerned i should say we also are trying to change the situation in some serious way first of all we changed their management rather seriously in the system and on the other hand we are trying to suggest some ways of el sol singh for example suggest in

their civil special as not reckon the special service to help people in this medical field and finally i would like to say about the very important draft law being concerned with their. abortion the imprisonment of people who have some serious diseases according to some specialists been established and proved by the russian government and we hope that this draft law will become a work in lore quite soon and this will also change situation great you mentioned you have been an investigator yourself cell so you do know that the government is restricting the right to visit inmates that want to close relatives which should have given you problems when you were investigated and it still is the case a trying to change that. i think that this iteration should be probably changed but it's not. but it would of thing that ideas are initiatives absolutely

absolutely proper about the same time we're sure that their. present day situation also is not optimal by the way in the different countries the situation is also rather discussable for example in the netherlands all their. people not being the close relatives for the prisoners are also allowed to. visit them for a rather long period of time and it's also true for the who goes to visit the. prisoners and that's really what you want it to be done is there well i don't know that i don't want to go there is that what the prisoners on the rubble of what at least it should be under some proper order so they should pay taxes. like it now listen russia is a leading country. in terms of the number of appeals to the european courts on

human rights doesn't mean that the russians have the least chance in europe to get adequate justice in their own country first of all i should say that. only in the absolute figures where the leaders because you want to be counted i think. yeah we only have the seventeenth or something like that place in new york so we're just a big country yes on the other hand i should say it's a very important thing according to the president information around ninety percent of the. claims to the european human rights courts are finally. turned down to accessible and that's why there are no any judging this. into the to this to this result and that's why the figures are a little bit strange thing you know but at the same time of course we do understand that the practice of the european human rights courts. is very important for our

country because that means that we still have a lot of problems in our judicial system well let's see if the russians believe in their judicial system spotlights cuts trying to find the answer in the streets of moscow. hi there today i'll try to find out if russia is just and there still and whether they think they could win a case against an official if it came down to it. well it all depends it depends on my resources and my lawyer whether i'm right or wrong and my knowledge of the law having all this plus one initial resource there is a good chance that i can win a case if it doesn't happen in our court i can always go further i can take my case to the european court which would rule based on the situation and not on the sides involved the situation also depends on how far this official is ready to go and where is the borderline that he can't cross but the chances are very slim because i was born in judges always side with the government and officials. well i think that

chances of winning are very slim because unfortunately courts are not independent from the administration officials using their resources can influence an outcome of the case even if i'm right. i know that because judges would never go against the government and decisions that you know you will not get to just decisions not court if an official isn't. fiancee's yes but. because certainly there are chances. who are in the individual to win in the court people through to. those courts to become really independent but this intuition as it is today. still i guess the chances that. brother mode is. so mistaken of all of do you think it's possible for an illiterate person to win a case against the official in russia do you think it's possible of course i do

believe it's a possibility although i'm quite far from the standing of the situation as a really perfect and what is my opinion is that of course we have to. make our judging system of the status of our judges system as more close to the european. international judge and standards as it's possible so this is the main goal is and a very important idea. by the way despite all existent of nonexistent the european human rights courts we're still are interested in their proper and effective judging system in this country as a nation as a great country as are. economical. economical strong strong country that's very important thing and of course there is no one opportunity to be a more than an innovative country uses such an innovative development while their human rights not guaranteed in a proper way well but anyway e.u.

should admit that your belief that they have really that contradicts what most of the people. who sell you still have work to do. now russia today's journalist not to share out of heaps of a. was one did recently you might heard of that she was wounded by a non lethal weapon. there is this support what white support to to battle these non-lethal weapons do you do do you think this should be done and. well of course it should be done i guess but what about there. well there's quite a lot of ideas for for for for. spreading opportunities to have guns and some different types of weapons and some freeway in this country i'm. absolutely sure that's not possible and no way for this situation

although they say this quiets more liability wise. quite a lot of chances that the criminals will be afraid and all the scare out of the situation but i don't believe this we read in the press that only one percent of the people that go to court are acquitted ninety nine percent are accused why is it a bias why does it happen. well i don't know exactly. what it was a supreme court nomination for publishing this well it's all small to have to try it actually we do believe that their criminal just lation of russian federation is quite outdated and changed greatly during the. period after in nineteen ninety six and one thousand nine hundred one where the. president criminal code was an implement it into the practice and that's why they are probably arrived they people are that i suggest. creating

a new criminal code. so their idea of president medvedev as far as i understand it is that we do not should not stop at this stage for example. concerning this draft law that what is good that was discussed the previous week but we have to go further we have to deal with this so-called economical crimes we have to deal with a new package of alternative measures for the criminals and finally what is probably the most important thing is that we should not stop war just with adoption of this laws and signing them by present and that if because the most important thing will happen in the courts practice this court practice should be changed and the trends in a court court practice should be desperately changed and the same time i should say their control the still society and all the state authorities not.

their courts and the judges themselves should be absolutely to ban it but what about the courts practice in general it should be under the control thank you thank you very much for being with us and just to remind you that my guest in the studio today was alexander kind of all of russian justice minister and that's it for now from all of us here will be that until then stay on r.t. and take a. i suppose the two off. the ball. hits. the. line in motion would be soon which brightened if you knew about sound from

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out about the results this quarter and laser consider a plan to limit the linesmen trip presence in eastern europe and states which have joined since the collapse of the sun which. has a great hole in kurdish controlled northern the problem is terror and violence but the run up to the us troops leave the region. israel's recent discovery of oil and gas reserves and to reign in fuel as a painter tensions in the middle east as remote countries like claims including that of them are made by the. end of the show starts right.

welcoming the law to show where i get the real headlines with none of the mercy or can live out of washington d.c. and i will ask is washington really capable of change candidates all across the country or campaigning with an outsider message but is there really such a thing once you arrive in the capital and the exact same old staffers and lobbyists are the ones running the show and is it the end of an era as of yesterday the file sharing stalwart live wire is no longer functioning the decision is being heralded as a landmark ruling in the war against copyright infringement but will the riaa be of new sides willing and able to take its place does this ruling even matter then why does the united states incarcerate so many people when only damages our society and cost taxpayers billions could democracy have something to do with it we'll speak to radley balko of reason magazine about why you think too much democracy leads to too much.