Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has introduced to the Duma a draft amendment allowing the release of terminally ill suspects from pre-trial detention centers, following a series of highly-publicized pre-trial prison deaths in Moscow, a Russian business daily said on Tuesday.
Under the bill, a list of illnesses qualifying suspects for release would be prepared by the Russian Health Ministry, Vedomosti daily said, citing the Kremlin press service.
Current legislation requires courts to take the health of a suspect into consideration when deciding on the relevant sentence for a suspect, but those whose health has deteriorated while in pre-trial detention cannot be released, the memorandum to the bill said.
Medvedev also introduced amendments to a law on the detention of suspects. The bill requires the head of a pre-trial detention center to provide the examining magistrate, the suspect and the lawyer with a medical report, based on a government-approved examination.
The Russian president was forced into action on reforming the country's pre-trial detention system after a series of business executives died while awaiting trial in Moscow.
In November 2009, Hermitage Capital Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, 37, died of a heart attack in a Moscow pretrial detention center after awaiting trial on tax evasion charges for 358 days.
Real estate agency owner Vera Trifonova died in pre-trial detention on April 30 after awaiting trial on fraud charges for over four months. She was wheelchair-bound and had been diagnosed with diabetes and kidney disease, but was kept in detention regardless.
MOSCOW, September 14 (RIA Novosit)
