For the Russian Church, when justice intrudes into homes, it breaks families.
The Kremlin on Thursday rejected toughen Russian legislation on different kinds of domestic violence, despite the fact that Russia has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and is asked for a major reform.
“We believe that the legislation in force already has all the necessary instruments to fight this evil, the forces of order are making the necessary efforts,” said Dimitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman.
“Of course there are unfortunate and tragic incidents”Added Peskov, who did not want to comment on the European court’s decision.
In a ruling that agrees with four women victims of violence at the hands of their ex-partners, the European body affirmed on Tuesday that Moscow should modify its legal framework “urgently”, which has “no definition” of “domestic violence”.
Russia decriminalized in 2017, with the support of the president Vladimir Putin, acts of violence in family privacy, except the very serious ones.
Conservative currents, such as the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, had influenced the circles of power to carry out this reform.
For the Russian Church, when justice intrudes into homes it breaks families, something “incompatible with traditional Russian spiritual and moral values”.
In the absence of official data, specialized associations estimate that more than 16 million Russian women suffer domestic violence, and sordid and mediatized cases give rise to this debate every year.
Before the ECHR, in April the Russian Constitutional Court considered unconstitutional the fact that Russian law does not agree on a adequate protection for victims, and that it does not punish repeat offenders more seriously.
This decision gave hope to associations for the defense of women’s rights that they will change the legislation. But the Kremlin did not stop sending mixed messages.
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Last week, Putin dropped that he could support a new bill to reinforce those measures, but warning that “some are concerned about the interference in family affairs”.
For the Russian militant Aliona Popova, Putin is under pressure from “fundamentalists”. (I)
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