MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The lower house of Russian parliament passed a law on Friday on partial decriminalizing of battery against the family members by qualifying it as an administrative offense.
"The draft law stipulates changes to the article 116 of the Russian Criminal Code, excluding battery against the family members from the list of crimes. Thus, batteries against the family members and significant others will be considered as administrative offenses," the legislation's explanatory note read.
2 December 2014, 00:56 GMT
The individuals will be held criminally responsible for the repeated offenses against family members in accordance with the law.
In July 2016, the corresponding amendments to the code were criticized, since the liability for the domestic violence became more severe than offenses against unrelated people.
