A Just Russia party proposes constitutional amendment allowing for stripping people of Russian citizenship for terrorism, pedophilia
MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The party A Just Russia has proposed adding a provision allowing for removing Russian citizenship from people who committed especially serious crimes, such as terrorism or pedophilia, to the Russian Constitution, A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov said.
"We propose that the Russian Constitution provide for a mechanism for the deprivation of Russian citizenship. This measure may be applied in exceptional cases in relation to people who have committed especially serious crimes, for instance, acts of terrorism or child molestation," the parliamentary faction of the party A Just Russia quoted Mironov as saying.
Terrorists and pedophiles "deserve the ultimate measure of criminal punishment and do not deserve to be citizens of the Russian Federation," he said.
Co-chair of the working group drafting amendments to the Constitution Andrei Klishas spoke out against Mironov's proposal.
"This proposal is at odds with Point 3 Article 6 of the Constitution ['Each citizen of the Russian Federation exercises in its territory all rights and freedoms and has equal rights envisaged by the Russian Constitution. A citizen of the Russian Federation cannot be stripped of his or her citizenship or the right to change it.'] and cannot be fulfilled. I will oppose it," Klishas told reporters on Thursday.
A Just Russia earlier proposed a number of amendments to the Constitution before the second reading of the bill. In particular, its members proposed that some key social benefits be included in the Constitution, among them those guaranteeing that old-age pensions must be regularly adjusted to inflation, that women are entitled to an old-age pension when reaching 55 and men 60, and that no laws reducing the state's social obligations can be adopted in Russia.
Mironov said earlier that, if the working group analyzing proposed constitutional amendments does not take the amendments proposed by his party into account, its faction members will not vote for the bill in the second reading.
The bill of constitutional amendments proposed by the president passed first reading in the State Duma on January 23.
The second reading was initially scheduled for February 11, but the Duma Council extended the deadline for proposals until March 2. Now, the State Duma may examine them on March 10.