![]() Presumably, such sentences are the result of deals with the investigative bodies (for example, a voluntary confession of guilt saves the investigators from the need to gather meticulous evidence). The fact that some people accused of treason are sentenced to prison terms shorter than those specified in the law (from 12 to 20 years) should also be taken into account. For comparison, 17 individuals have been convicted in Russia on charges of espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code) since 1997, while only foreign nationals are subjected to such indictments. The political nature of the article is also confirmed by the frequency and serial nature of the number of criminal proceedings, with no fewer than 126 cases from 1997 to October 2021, 58 of which have taken place since 2015. This is evidenced by the vagueness of the definition of the crime: treason is not only sharing state secrets with another country but also any interaction with foreigners that is directed against the security of Russia, which leaves wide room for interpretation. The data available suggests that a significant portion of such cases and of this very article of the Criminal Code have political overtones. Until recently, human rights defenders were able to draw public attention to such cases, but since Team 29, specialising in such cases, ceased its activities in July 2021, doing this will become even more difficult. Owing to the secrecy of such criminal cases and court trials, there is often no information available other than the name of the defendant and the prison term imposed by the court. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, treason convictions (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) attracted widespread public attention, but by the early 2020s they had become commonplace. ![]() Pavel Luzin on the political logic and practice of combating ‘traitors’ “Siloviki” Internal Security Security Traitors by designation Russian media: Moscow and Beyond Calling. ![]()
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