Women’s rights activists have expressed fury over a legal amendment under consideration in the Russian parliament which, if passed, would decriminalise domestic abuse.
The amendment would make “moderate” violence within families an administrative rather than criminal offence, punishable by a fine rather than a jail sentence.
Those behind the bill say they believe it supports “traditional values” and stops the state from snooping into family matters.
But activists say it removes protection for the vulnerable, normalising husbands who beat their wives, parents who beat their children, and family members who beat elderly relatives.
The law was drafted by Yelena Mizulina, an ultra-conservative MP who was also behind the controversial Russian law banning “gay propaganda”. She told parliament that “in Russian traditional families, the relationship between parents and their children is built on authority and power”. She said it was ridiculous that people could be branded criminals “for a slap”.
The Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, is due to hear the bill in a second reading next week, after passing it on the first reading by 386 votes to one. It needs to pass three readings in the Duma before it is moved to parliament’s upper house, and then requires the signature of the president, Vladimir Putin.
Putin, when questioned in December, said it was better not to use violence at all, noting that “there’s too little distance between a spanking and a beating”. He agreed, however, that “unceremonious interference with the family is impermissible”.
The amendment would decriminalise any violence that does not cause serious medical harm, which is defined as requiring hospital treatment. Beatings that leave bruises, scratches or bleeding but do not leave lasting negative health effects such as broken bones or concussion will no longer be criminal. If there is a second beating within a year, however, the case can be made a criminal one.
MPs said the new law was required to close a legal loophole whereby the penalties for assaulting family members are worse than those for assaulting others. The law covers not just violence between spouses but any violence within the family.
Domestic violence is widely acknowledged to be a major problem in Russia, with more than 10,000 women believed to die from injuries inflicted by husbands or partners every year. Activists say police often do not take cases seriously, dismissing complaints from women about violence at home.
Attitudes are slowly changing, but many in society also laugh off the issue, often using the Russian proverb, “If he beats you, it means he loves you.”
Alena Popova, a women’s rights activist who has coordinated opposition to the amendments, said the planned changes reinforced the message that violence in the family was acceptable, and was likely to lead to a further increase in domestic abuse.
“Imagine it: a woman is beaten up by her husband, she makes a complaint, and the husband is given a fine, which he pays out of the family budget. He then comes home and shouts at her for complaining, and you can be 100% sure that next time she’ll just try to hide the bruises and won’t complain,” Popova said.
The amendment also requires those who wish to make a complaint to collect doctors’ reports and evidence themselves, whereas currently police are obliged to investigate reports of violence proactively.
Popova said there were widespread cases of family members assaulting elderly relatives to extort money or property, and it was unthinkable that they would now have to do all the work to collect documents for a court case.
The law has also caused alarm outside Russia. Thorbjørn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, sent a letter critical of the law to the chairman of Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin.
“Reducing ‘battery within the family’ from a criminal to an administrative offence, with weaker sanctions for offenders, would be a clear sign of regression within the Russian federation and would strike a blow to global efforts to eradicate domestic violence,” he wrote.
Volodin dismissed the letter as a “completely unacceptable” attempt to exert pressure on Russian politicians, and said parliament would take into account public opinion when deciding on the law.
A poll released on Thursday by Russia’s state polling agency claimed 59% of Russians were in favour of softening the law, with just 17% “fully against it”.
Popova said the poll was imperfect and the results could have been skewed by the way the questions were phrased.
Maria Mamikonyan, chair of the Russian Parental Resistance, said it was ridiculous to criminalise “ordinary educational slaps, which almost all families use to let children know their limits”.
But Popova said it was depressing that people were campaigning for the right to beat vulnerable relatives.
“We went to protest and there were people standing there with placards demanding the right to beat their own children. I couldn’t get my head round it,” she said.
Anna Kirey deputy director for Russia and Eurasia at Amnesty International, said: “This bill is a sickening attempt to trivialise domestic violence, which has long been viewed as a non-issue by the Russian government.
“Claims that this will somehow protect families or preserve traditions are ludicrous – domestic violence destroys lives.”