The governor of Russia's southwestern Siberian region of Kemerovo, Aman Tuleyev, has passed a law banning the activity of debt collection agencies, the Meduza news website reported Wednesday.
“As of April 6, 2016, no collector has the right to beat the debts out of people,” Tuleyev said, Meduza reported. “There is no alternative, we cannot allow our people to be killed,” Tuleyev said.
Tuleyev also required checks on the activities of banks and microfinance institutions for violations in methods of debt collection, Meduza reported.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Novosibirsk region has opened a criminal case against bailiffs accused of raping a debtor and assaulting her husband and 17-year-old son. The victim owes a debt of 240,000 rubles after taking out a 5,000 ruble loan from a microfinance institution in 2015, which she failed to repay on time, Meduza reported.
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