Vladimir Putin promulgated a law on Wednesday aimed at confiscating the money and property of people found guilty of having disseminated
“false information”
about the Russian army, a new illustration of the repression targeting critics of the Kremlin, two years after the beginning of its assault in Ukraine.
Moscow made criticism of the military illegal shortly after launching its assault on Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
To discover
Follow information on the war in Ukraine with the Figaro application
The new promulgated text was voted on at the end of January in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, then at the beginning of February by the Federation Council, the upper house.
On Wednesday, unsurprisingly, the presidential decree signed by Vladimir Putin was published by the Russian authorities.
Hundreds of ordinary Russians sentenced
At the time of its presentation, the president of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, estimated that this law against
“thugs”
would make it possible to
“punish traitors”
who
“act against their country”
.
In fact, the law does not provide for confiscating absolutely all the property of a convicted person but for seizing their money and funds
“used or intended” to finance
“criminal”
activities
, terms which however remain very vague.
The text also plans to authorize the courts to withdraw all state honorary distinctions from people convicted of
“false information”
.
The charge of spreading
“false information”
about the Russian military carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
Several hundred ordinary Russians have been convicted under this article of the Criminal Code for almost two years.