spotlight. artsy i am al green of entry my guest in the studio is. kind of. one of the milestones of the three medvedev presidency is the reform of the russian penitentiary system which many consider pretty outdated revolutionary amendments into the country's law intent to abolish prison punishment for low profile crimes may this be true and are we still to expect new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 and that if there's a rule there so it's not surprising he's pushing forward reforms which can improve the lawyer russia and i'm lowly so the crowd of prisons is 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. are mistaken of elephant thank you very much for being with us and they share a 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 or should be oh actually spoken should not say that this is liberalizing as a test. i should better say some kind of making the system operate matic memoriam and more transparent as well absolutely right when talking about their present day but it is for a system of russian federation about an outdated system sometimes we. have to confess that inside. picks 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 this 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 a 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 the practice of the courts are going all courts will be changed in russia for duration because of this new draft of the law that's been discussed by president innovative and his deputies the previous week what are 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 their 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 there are real a series a really serious criminals 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 with some other case when they could be more mild to punish the criminal but not to break his life at all absolutely in 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 prisons 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 is still are it's in jail and sometimes even more close to the milam it's more than one hundred listen 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 quantity 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 in prison because nowadays it's much higher than generally in there 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 tough a year. 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 courts of course and their main idea is that it's not their leave it all is asian itself nor the

determination of their 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 it but at the same time and the third the third idea 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 although i think you know it was a really 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 very very important way to change their criminal policy . of this site and i've spoken of all this alternative measures is not in forcing people to go for these punishments and 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 to make their standards of the. other criminal court to be implemented and this case here or she will have a threat of been 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 floor as i hope so and so this is the main the main goal of the . draft law that has been 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 really 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 could get across can lead to if 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. let myself go man their particular case because i don't know the details of the devils of 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 if 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 girl of the court to a correct somebody is life it's main idea it's main task is just to punish to develop it correctly their particular case and to punish it in a bra and transferred way and up to that but a different system of the country itself should or create the optimal possibilities for everybody who would like to rest socialise and self and to became the project of society again. i should say we have to build up some kind of social elevate us from the bottom of the society to at least zero stage and that's why i think

they're great the main idea of the court's activities is just to. punish somewhat it correctly more closely to the case says alexander can of all of russian justice minister that spotlight will be back shortly so stay with us then we will continue this until. well into the coosa goldman's contain explosive. bacteria strict limits to seal sludge middle of the magic has better players in the sky and seeds of hope to protect our hearts the ever so you can provide such accuracy to many forms modern technology update here. we've got the future covered.

more news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images. from the streets of canada. giant corporations are the day. welcome back to spotlight i'm going out and just to remind you that my guest in the studio today is alexander canaveral of russian justice minister we're talking about the reform in the russian judicial system mr khan of the russian penitentiary system is often criticized by my colleagues in the russian press in the russian

media and often it has been in the center of scandals for the conditions in which the inmates are serving and they have 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 greatly 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 probably the beginning of the twenty's and nowadays the situation greatly changed. and there are times there are conditions so for judgement we are really really terrible i should say i was once upon a investigate and supervising 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 orders of true impressions we're probably you know that. even the only effect 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 haven't proved 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 there's not 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 suggesting their civil special is not work in 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 in the investigative yourself cell so you do know that the government is restricting the right to visit inmates only 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 our initiatives absolutely absolutely proper but so the same time we're sure that there. present a situation also is not optimal by the way in the different countries the situation is also rather discussable for example in the middle of all the. people not being the close relatives for the prisoners 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 that well i don't know that i don't want to go there is that what the prisoners on the ruble about since

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 does it 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 count to 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 around excessive and that's why there are no any judging this. and 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 at trying to find the answer in the streets of moscow. hi there today i'll try to find out if russians trust in their judicial system 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 well but the chances are very slim because i was born in judges always side with the government and officials. well i think the chances of winning are very slim because unfortunately courts are not independent from the administration officials using their resources can influence an outcome of a 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 decision not court if an official is in with the fiancee's yes but. because certainly there are chances. who are in the individual to win in the courts people should try. those courts to become really independent but this intuition as it is today.

still i guess the chances that. brother mohd is. so mistaken of all of do you think it's possible for an illiterate person to win a case against an official in russia do you think it's possible of course i do believe it's possible 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 the status of a judge a 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 the existing 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 this very important thing and of course there is no an opportunity to be a more than an innovative country using such innovative development while their human rights not guaranteed a proper way well but anyway e.u. should admit that your belief that they. really that contradicts what most of the people. tell you still have work to do. now russia today's journalists not that shot out of heaps of the. 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 ben these non-lethal weapons do you do do you think this should be done the nuns. world of course it should be done i guess but what about their. well there's quite a lot of ideas for for for for. spreading opportunity

is to have. 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 per cent 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 nominees to publish this well it's all small to have to try it actually we do believe that their criminal just lation the russian federation is quite outdated and changed greatly during the. period of to nineteen ninety six one hundred ninety seven where the. president criminal code was an

implement it into the practice and that's why probably arrived there people are that 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 just with adoption of this laws and signing them by present and that is because the most important thing will happen in the courts practice this court practice should be changed and the trends

in the 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 in just a reminder 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. dear

mom i'm sorry that i had to do this i've been in so much pain in the past year that i can't take it anymore the stomach and chest pains have been getting worse and no doctor has been able to help me please know that i'll finally be at peace and with no more pain i wish i could have had a life with elizabeth always pictured her being my wife and mother to my kids i love you all see you all in heaven when your time comes i'm going to meet jesus christ. thousands of u.s. troops in iraq received one of these drugs a drug called lariam and it may have prevented many soldiers from getting sick the question tonight is whether or not soldiers were adequately warned about its rare side effects serious life change and side effects.

in india oh geez available in the movie the joint people chose a movie that's the gateway to the grand imperial truly the torch which. you can a let's go toe to toe see don't need to go. read this and the colonel was photo as

used to retreat. the french are again to head out to the streets to protest against pension reform angry at the south for moving the new build closer to enforcement. how they make it out of me our team looks at how the f.b.i. creates fake logs to boost their were arrested and home grown terror cases. global junk e-mail has fallen by a record fifty billion a day after the man sought to be the world's biggest fam or it was tracked down. from the business desk here troika dollars wants to sell its twenty percent stake in russian carmaker to radio in this hour we'll bring you the french and japanese firms position of the matter in our business program.

ten am in the russian capital you're watching r.t.l. marina jascha welcome to the program and more protests in france and more damage to its crippled finances public anger is now beginning to switch from the government to the trade unions blamed for paralyzing the country's economy as a country as arvin now reports demonstrators seem to be losing the war they waged. saving face the french trade unions are still taking people to the streets despite the fact the reform they're protesting against is a given still angry french citizens say the show must go on as ordinary persons look on drinking their coffee and mineral water members of trade unions and students continue taking to the streets just outside the french senate protesting a reform that is pretty much already guaranteed to take place they haven't even had a chance to learn the new slogans but it's not enough to stop them.