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Property Seizure to Return

The Secretariat of the Constitutional Court has proposed to restore confiscation of property as a form of criminal punishment for grave crimes. At the same time, the lawful right to the property must be proved by its owners.

The Constitutional Court is considering introducing into the Criminal Code the concept of confiscation “in rem” — if the owner cannot prove the lawful origin of suspicious assets.

The proposal to discuss this idea is contained in the recommendations of GRECO, the Group of States against Corruption, the Council of Europe's anti-corruption body. Russia joined it when it signed and ratified the Council of Europe’s convention on criminal liability for corruption. The document has been prepared for a roundtable meeting in the State Duma.

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