Russian Courts Giving Reduced Sentences to Veterans who Beat Their Wives and Children, New Study Finds

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 2 – Violence against women and children is increasingly rapidly in Russia, with at least some of the reasons being the decriminalization of much family violence and the propensity of Russian courts to give reduced or suspended sentences to veterans of Putin’s war in Ukraine and especially to those who have won medals in combat there.

            That is the conclusion of new studies reported by the Vyorstka news service (verstka.media/mvd-v-2023-godu-zafiksirovalo-rekordnoe-chislo-nasilstvennyh-prestuplenij-protiv-detej-v-semyah and verstka.media/nasilie-nad-zhenschinami-obhoditsia-uchastnikam-boevyh-deystviy-v-5-t-r-issledovanie).

            Between 2023 and 2024, it notes, figures supplied by the All-Russian Criminological Journal (https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=74500679) confirm those findings and show that violence against children rose by 50 percent between 2023 and 2024 and violence against wives by their husbands has been increasing as well.

            While undoubtedly many factors are at work, including economic problems and changing expectations among the residents of Russia, Vyorstka suggests that the decriminalization of much family violence and the willingness of courts to give lighter punishments or none at all to veterans of the war in Ukraine explain a great deal of these sad trends (verstka.media/nasilie-nad-zhenschinami-obhoditsia-uchastnikam-boevyh-deystviy-v-5-t-r-issledovanie).