Over 20,000 persons put under house arrest in Russia in 2018
MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - Russian courts have been actively imposing house arrests; the number of such court orders has grown four times over the past five years, according to Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) representative Kristina Panshina.
"The number of house arrest orders has been growing 15% to 20% year after year. The number of persons under house arrest has enlarged more than four times over the past five years, from 5,000 in 2013 to 22,000 in 2018," Panshina told Interfax on Monday.
Over the past decade, Russia "has been consistently implementing the state policy humanizing criminal penalties, which leads to the broader use of restrictive measures other than incarceration by courts," Panshina said.
"The primary objective is to reduce the number of suspects and defendants held in detention facilities. As a rule, a court imposes house arrest on suspects or defendants accused of misdemeanors or minor felonies," she said.
Technical means of control, the so-called "ankle monitors," were put into use in 2013.
"The electronic monitors have been used on over 60,000 suspects and defendants held under house arrest since 2013," Panshina said.