The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has ordered not to imprison people who have committed minor crimes due to poverty

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has ordered not to imprison people in a colony who have been found guilty of minor crimes due to poverty. About it informs RIA Novosti with reference to the definitions of the judicial collegium for criminal cases.

The decision was made after considering a complaint against the verdict of a resident of the Rostov region, who smuggled cigarettes from Ukraine by boat. The court sentenced him to three years in prison. The defense reached the Supreme Court with a request to replace the term with a suspended one.

In the complaint, the defense points to the difficult financial situation of the convict – he has sick children, elderly dependent parents, and his wife does not work. He himself worked as a loader and earned 8 thousand rubles, but lost his job and could not find a new one.

He complained about his situation to a friend, who offered to transport cigarettes from Ukraine by boat for a fee. The convict agreed. He assumed that the maximum that threatens him is administrative responsibility for economic activities near the border, but law enforcement agencies accused him of smuggling.

The man repented, pleaded guilty and told in detail about all the circumstances of the case. However, this did not save him from a real term in the colony. The Supreme Court disagreed with this.

“The convicted person committed a crime due to a difficult financial situation … and also, taking into account the living conditions of his family, in need of his help and material support, the conclusion of the court that it is impossible to correct him without isolation from society cannot be recognized as legal and justified,” the definition says …

The term has been changed to a conditional one.