Impunity over Wagner mutiny signals further degradation of rule of law in Russia
The crime is a particularly grave one under the Russian Criminal Code, punishable by imprisonment ranging from 12 to 20 years.
- The crime is a particularly grave one under the Russian Criminal Code, punishable by imprisonment ranging from 12 to 20 years.
- Russia has long lost its status as a state governed by the rule of law.
- It also runs counter to the experience of others in Russia who have been imprisoned for many years for expressing anti-war sentiment in public.
Undermining Putinism
- Indeed, Putin at first tried to use the weight of the Russian legal system to pressure the Wagner Group to abandon its march on Moscow.
- Rather than negotiate, Putin would pursue a policy of destroying those attacking the Russian state – even at the heavy cost of hostages’ lives.
- That image of a man who will not negotiate has now been shattered.
‘Erosion of the legal system’
- But the damage goes beyond denting Putin’s reputation – it also undermines Russia’s legal system itself.
- In terms of Russian law, the Federal Security Bureau has presented nothing in the way of sound legal justification for dropping the criminal case against Prigozhin or the Wagner Group.
- That the Russian authorities have so far failed to come up with any legal justification for dropping the case marks a departure from past precedent.
- The state is prohibited from funding mercenary activities – something that raises legal questions over the financing of Prigozhin’s private army in Ukraine in the first place.
Laws not written in stone
- In the opening days of the February 2022 invasion, it became a criminal offense in Russia to spread “false information” or “discredit” the Russian army.
- The vaguely worded law has made possible the large-scale political persecution of Russian citizens with anti-war views.
- I fear it will give Russian authorities even more discretion and will entail a new round of repression inside the country.