Russian media reports say Russian lawmakers have adopted a law allowing criminal defendants to serve in the army.

State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) members yesterday voted in favor of two bills that, if signed into law, will allow defendants to sign military contracts or be mobilized.

“Criminal proceedings against such persons will be suspended and the measure of restraint (house arrest, bans on certain actions, bail, detention) will be scrapped,” the State Duma said.  

The defendants’ criminal records can be expunged if they receive state awards or retire from the military due to age, injuries, or the end of mobilization.

Recall, the State Duma adopted the bill in the first reading at its plenary meeting on September 18.   

The amendments proposed by the Supreme Court are explained by the existing contradictory practice.

Now, according to the law, if a person goes to war after the conclusion of the investigation, but before the sentence, then his case should not be closed.  In fact, he only gets a reprieve from continuing the process, not a "reset" of responsibility for his actions.

The proposed changes to Article 78.1 of the Criminal Code aim to modify the conditions for releasing individuals from criminal liability in connection with signing a contract for military service during mobilization, wartime, or martial law.  Currently, the article states that individuals whose preliminary investigation has been suspended (except for those who have committed certain serious crimes) are exempt from liability.  The draft law proposes replacing the term "preliminary investigation" with "proceedings in a criminal case" and adding the condition that such exemption can only occur "at the request of the command of the military unit (institution)."

According to Russia’s Criminal Code, certain individuals are prohibited from entering into military service contracts, including those who have committed crimes against the sexual integrity of minors, as well as other serious offenses such as terrorism, illegal export of arms or military equipment, hostage-taking, organizing or participating in illegal armed groups, banditry, organizing a criminal community, drug smuggling, treason, espionage, sabotage, organizing extremist groups, and more.

In the current version of Article 78.1 of the Criminal Code, it states that exemption from criminal liability occurs either from the day the individual is awarded a state honor during military service or from the day of dismissal for a number of specified reasons. These provisions are not proposed to be changed.

Similar amendments are also proposed for the law "On Military Duty and Military Service," aiming to align the legal framework with the changes in the Criminal Code regarding the conditions for exemption from liability during military service.

The bills now face a single vote in the Federation Council (Russia’s upper chamber of parliament), after which President Vladimir Putin is expected to sign them into law.

The first law authorizing convicts and suspected criminals to be enlisted into the Russian army passed in mid-2023.  Putin, who had confirmed he pardoned prisoners who fought in Ukraine, in late 2022 allowed the mobilization of convicts on conditional release.

Before these laws formalized prisoner recruitment, the Wagner mercenary group had begun enlisting prisoners in mid-2022, offering pardons and the expungement of criminal records in exchange for military service.

Meanwhile, some lawyers believe that the system of allowing criminal defendants to sign military contracts could create risks of violating the balance of victims' rights and pose broader societal risks.

"Primarily, the right to sign contracts is being actively used by those convicted to long prison terms, meaning those convicted of serious and especially serious crimes. If these individuals are awarded honors or wounded during the special military operation (SMO), they are released from punishment. While the legislature has indeed excluded some categories of crimes from eligibility, in my opinion, it's not enough," notes Yelena Oreshnikova.

Oreshnikova emphasizes that each request from an accused, defendant, or convict wishing to sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense should be "subject to very stringent review before approval." "I support an individual approach, which we currently lack and which sometimes leads to negative consequences. The legislature and law enforcement must minimize risks for other citizens," she adds.

In Kartapolov's opinion, by fulfilling tasks as part of a military contract in the SMO zone, a person who has committed a socially dangerous act can atone for their guilt.  "It turns out that the person is atoning for their guilt. During the Great Patriotic War, there were so-called penal units. People convicted by a military tribunal for serious offenses were sent there. If the person was wounded, all charges were dropped, and if they died, they were buried as a hero, under the same conditions as regular Red Army soldiers," he explained.