Senator Yelena Mizulina has urged the Federation Council to reject a bill that would criminalize familial abuse, the Meduza news website reported Tuesday.
Allowing family members to be prosecuted for abuse, especially abuse for the sake of educational purposes is problematic for Mizulina — an invasion of familial privacy and a means for juvenile justice, the report said.
Earlier this month, the Russian State Duma passed amendments to the Criminal Code that made battery an administrative offense, with one exception: family violence, which would still be considered a criminal offense.
At the enlarged meeting of the committee held on Tuesday, Mizulina advised the upper house of parliament to reject this bill, Meduza reported.
Mizulina said that family-based organizations have been steadfastly protesting against such legislation and that on June 29, there may be a signed letter sent to the president in protest of the amendments, according to the senator’s official website.
Mizulina, an ultraconservative senator on the Federation Council and “champion of high moral standards,” is well known for the role she played in establishing a set of controversial laws concerning LGBT rights in Russia. More specifically, what the West has come to know as the “gay propaganda law.”
The legislation, “On Protecting Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development,” authored by Mizulina and unanimously approved by the State Duma in 2013, was established as a means to protect “traditional” family values. In particular, it specified the harm in portraying homosexuality as a behavioral norm for children.
It has often been criticized as being means for justifying homophobic violence in Russia.
