There is currently a lot of puzzles about what Donald Trump will do after his term in office.
Vladimir Putin is one step further: a new law guarantees him bizarre privileges.
Lifelong.
Moscow
-
Donald Trump may
this day
wish
* what
Vladimir Putin has
now officially secured: lifelong
immunity
.
Russia's president has signed a law
giving
former
Russian leaders
life immunity from prosecution.
The rule also applies to the family members of the ex-presidents, as can be read in the recently published legal text.
But the novella goes far beyond that.
Putin: In the future, the police will not even be allowed to ask questions - the law guarantees Kremlin boss life-long immunity
In addition to extending immunity beyond the mandate of heads of state, the new regulation also stipulates that they
may not be
questioned or
arrested
by the
police
or the
public prosecutor
for the rest of their lives
.
Also,
raids on ex-presidents
are therefore prohibited in the future.
Previously, presidential immunity only applied to crimes committed during their term of office.
The law is part of a controversial
constitutional reform
that theoretically allows 68-year-old Putin to stay in office until 2036.
According to the new legal situation,
former presidents in
Russia
can still have their immunity withdrawn in the future if they are accused of treason or other serious crimes and a corresponding charge is confirmed by a constitutional judge.
However, the law signed on Tuesday gives ex-presidents a
lifelong right to a seat in the Senate
or in the powerful
Russian Federation Council
.
Both positions go hand in hand with protection from criminal prosecution.
Russia: Putin has yet to sign - new law fits the Navalny case
Lower House MPs in Moscow on Tuesday approved another controversial law that
gives confidentiality status to
data on judicial, law enforcement,
and
military and security officials
.
Before the law comes into force, Putin still has to sign it;
however, this step is considered a formality.
The law was passed by parliament one day after the publication of a recording of a telephone conversation between
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny
and an agent of the
Russian domestic secret service FSB
, in which Navalny coaxed precise information from the agent about the process of the poison attack on him in August.
Navalny pretended to be an assistant to the head of the National Security Council during the phone call.
After the phone call, Navalny published the contact details of the
FSB agent
.
This would be illegal after the new law comes into force.
Vladimir Putin: Deputy Minister comments on Trump's removal from office - "don't expect anything good"
There is also
news from the
Kremlin
with a view to the
USA
: According to
Vice-Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov, the
Russian government expects
“nothing good” from future US President
Joe Biden
.
“We don't expect anything good, that's clear,” said Riabkov in an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax published on Wednesday.
"It would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom have built their careers on hostility to Russia by pouring gall on my country."
Biden
had been declared the winner
four days after the
US presidential election
on November 3rd.
Putin * announced a little later that he wanted to wait for the official election result before congratulating Biden.
Only when Biden had received 306 of the 538 votes in the so-called Electoral College on December 14th, Putin sent the US Democrat a letter of congratulations.
In it, the Kremlin leader expressed his conviction that
Russia and the United States could
"solve many problems and challenges" in the world, despite their differences of opinion.
"For my part, I am ready to cooperate and make contact with you," Putin assured in the telegram.
Putin had a much discussed and ambivalent relationship with Donald Trump *.
(
AFP / dpa / fn
) *
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.
