Monitoring of the Federal Legislation dated 15.03.2002

Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of March 14, 2002 on the Case of Constitutionality of Articles 90, 96, 122 and 216 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the RSFSR Pursuant to the Appeals of Citizens S.S.Malenkin, R.N.Martynov and S.V.Pustovalov

The challenged Articles permit to restrict the freedom and personal immunity of citizens for over 48 hours without a court ruling at various stages of pre-trial proceedings in a criminal case, which, according to the applicants, is in violation of the right for freedom and personal immunity guaranteed by Article 22 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has emphasised that in cases when the right requiring a law to protect it is directly specified in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, this duty must be executed as soon as possible. The previous procedure of detention and use of it as a measure of restraint actually leads to the refusal to implement the mechanism of judicial protection of the rights and freedoms of the person and citizen guaranteed by Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which may not be compensated by the granting of the opportunity to appeal against the detention or prolongation of it in court to the accused and suspect subject to the detention as a measure of restraint.
The Constitutional Court has recognized the provisions of Articles 90, 96, 122 and 216 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the RSFSR permitting to detain the person suspected of a crime for more than 48 hours and use the detention as a measure of restraint without a court ruling as not complying with the Constitution of the Russian Federation - its Articles 17, 22 and 46 (Part 1), as well as Paragraph 2 of Item 6 of Section 2 "Final and Transient Provisions". All other normative legal provisions permitting the detention before a court ruling for more than 48 hours, as well as arrest and detention without a court ruling, must be abandoned according to the established procedure and shall not apply from July 1, 2002, i.e. from the moment of introduction of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation. In this connection, the Federal Assembly is ordered to introduce appropriate amendments to the legislation immediately to provide for the introduction from July 1, 2002 of the norms envisaging the judici al procedure of application of the arrest, detention for more than 48 hours.

Federal Law No. 27-FZ of March 12, 2002 on the Amendments to Appendices 17 and 18 to the Federal Law on the Federal Budget for the Year 2002

Corrects inaccuracies of the technical and judicial nature. The list of legislative acts of the Russian Federation suspended from January 1 through December 31, 2002 now does not contain the items suspending Article 2 of the Federal Law No. 113-FZ of July 21, 1997 on the procedure of calculation and increase of state pensions, as well as the Federal Law No. 19-FZ of January 2, 2000 on the amendments to Article 44 of the Federal Law on the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation and Article 3 of the Law on the income tax from natural persons inasmuch as it pertains to the exemption from the income tax collected from natural persons. The name of Appendix 18 is provided in the new wording.
The provisions of the Federal Law shall apply from the day of entry into force of the Federal Law No. 194-FZ of December 30, 2001 on the federal budget for the year 2002.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication. The text of the Federal Law is published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on March 15, 2002, No. 46.

Federal Law No. 26-FZ of March 12, 2002 on the Amendments to the Federal Law on Public Associations

Upon expiry of the two years from the day of official publication of the Federal Law No. 95-FZ of July 11, 2001. i.e. from July 14, 2003, political public associations shall loose their "political" status will act as public associations in the meaning of the Federal Law on public associations. The names of public associations, except for political parties, may not contain the words "political, "party" and the words and word combinations derived from them.
On the other hand, creation of public associations of a political nature will become possible only in the form of political parties, with political parties not permitted to use personal names of citizens in their names.
The Federal Law is entered into force from the day of its official publication with exceptions. The text of the Federal Law is published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on March 15, 2002, No. 46.

Decision of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 152 of March 13, 2002 on the Paying Out in 2002 to Individual Categories of Citizens of the Russian Federation of the Preliminary Compensation for the Deposits in the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation and Some Insurance Organizations

Preliminary compensation for the deposits in the amount of Rbl 1,000 shall be paid out to citizens born before 1940 inclusive, group I invalids, participants of the Great Patriotic War, group II invalids born before 1950 inclusive, parents, as well as trustees of invalid children and invalids from childhood and other.
Preliminary compensation shall apply to the deposits owned by the mentioned citizens and the tied deposits for children contributed in the divisions of the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation before June 20, 1991. The compensation shall also apply to insurance deposits of the mentioned citizens having concluded the personal insurance contracts before January 1, 1992 and persons insured under the tied deposits for children before January 1, 1992.
The amount of the compensation shall depend on the duration of the deposit or the time of discontinuation of the insurance contract and shall be determined using coefficients. The compensations shall be paid out in the divisions of the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation at the place of location of the deposits or state insurance organizations upon presentation of identification documents.