“Today we are observing a general trend toward the mitigation of punishment, on the one hand, and the prompt response of the legislature and law enforcement to new challenges related to public safety, on the other. As a result, society is expecting an adequate approach to the measures taken to ensure law and order and the fairness of the criminal law policy in our state,” Andrei Shved said.
On 24 June the Plenum of the Supreme Court considered the harsher resentencing practices in cases of malicious evasion. Andrei Shved emphasized that this topic, to a certain extent, reflects the messages that were voiced.
“We have analyzed judicial practices since the introduction of this institution in 2021. Gaps and problems have been identified in the activities of сcorrectional agencies and courts when considering replacing a penalty with a stricter one. Today we must provide answers to a number of pressing questions. First of all, it is necessary to draw the courts’ attention to eliminating a formalistic approach when considering submissions, and to define the mandatory conditions for replacing a penalty with a stricter one, namely the malicious nature of the convicted person’s evasion from serving the imposed penalty. Courts must take a principled approach to examining all materials when exercising their right to replace a penalty with a stricter one,” Andrei Shved said.
He also recalled that the criminal procedure law provides for a special procedure for courts as they consider replacing a penalty with a stricter one during the execution of the sentence. Therefore, the meeting will discuss the issue of courts’ compliance with this procedure. The plenum is expected to adopt a resolution that will provide courts with structured clarifications on law enforcement.
Previously, an evasion of a sentence was treated as a separate, independent crime from the original offense under Articles 415-419 of the Criminal Code. However, in 2021 a number of amendments were introduced to criminal and penal enforcement legislation. Their main idea was to further humanize criminal law. A new institution emerged – the replacement of a penalty with a stricter one in cases where the convicted person maliciously evades serving it. With the introduction of this institution, persons whose penalty is replaced with a stricter one do not acquire a new criminal record or reoffence.
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