The number of cases of animal cruelty registered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs increased by 5.3% in 2022. We are talking about crimes under Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Cruel treatment of an animal, resulting in its death or injury.” In 2022, 709 of them were registered, while a year earlier – 673, Izvestia was told in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
However, the number of those who received real punishments under this article goes to dozens: in the first half of last year, the courts prosecuted 76 people under this article. 14 of them were imprisoned, 12 persons received a suspended sentence.
Other measures include restriction of freedom, compulsory and corrective labor, and fines. Deputies and animal rights activists are also dissatisfied with how actively they initiate criminal cases against torturers.
“The law provides the most extensive interpretation of what can be considered cruelty to animals. This is done for the police – to make it easier for her. At the same time, only in the city of Langepas of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, 13 refusals to initiate criminal cases were issued. Yes, the policemen themselves were finally punished thanks to my appeal to the prosecutor’s office and perseverance. They canceled these illegal decisions. But that’s only for a week! And this region is not the only one,” said Vladimir Burmatov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.
There is no common understanding among police officers on how to work under Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, how to initiate criminal cases and prove guilt, said Yury Koretsky, executive director of the Alliance for Animal Defenders.
“And in general, the attitude to this article of the Criminal Code as to some kind of not particularly requiring attention. It takes a very long time to work with employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs so that they take this same article as seriously as crimes against a person, ”he said.
Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:
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p class=”MsoNoSpacing”>Without a dog’s life: only one in five knackers gets punished
