MOSCOW, July 12 (RIA Novosti) – The head of the Kremlin’s human rights council on Friday harshly criticized Russia’s lower chamber of parliament, the State Duma, for being too hasty in passing legislation.
"The State Duma is currently approving bills in vast quantities. Recently, 56 laws were adopted at once,” Mikhail Fedotov told Russia’s Public Chamber, a regulatory body that monitors new legislation.
He cited as an example of ill-thought-out and hastily approved legislation, a recently passed bill that prohibits men from taking a government job if they did not first complete their compulsory term of military service.
“What should residents of the North Caucasus do?” he said, adding that military service is not compulsory in that region, which includes Chechnya and Dagestan. “Will there be no police or civil servants there? What should they do?”
While adopting laws, “no one bothers to think about anything,” Fedotov added. “They should think first, and then pass the law.”
State Duma representatives were not immediately available for a comment. The legislature officially recesses for summer vacation on Sunday.
