OREANDA-NEWS. November 18, 2009. At the meeting issues associated with the diversification of criminal punishment in light of the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly (Parliament) were discussed.

According to Alexander Konovalov, the Ministry has prepared a package of bills which, inter alia, will remove certain crimes from the Criminal Code and make them administrative matters. The Ministry also proposes to expand the range of crimes for which reformatory or compulsory labour can be used as intermediate form of punishment, between imprisonment and a suspended sentence.

The Minister stressed that the aim is not the liberalisation but the diversification of punishment. Alexander Konovalov said that for a number of crimes – juvenile offences, those that threaten life and health, those committed by organised groups - the punishments may well be made more severe.

Dmitry Medvedev noted that in the short term the requisite documents need to be prepared, and he himself will submit them to the State Duma.