Russia: Putin Signs Bill letting Former Presidents Lifetime Immunity

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill granting lifetime immunity to former presidents.

According to an AFP report, the text of the bill, published online, states that the bill would exempt former presidents and their families from legal action for crimes committed.

In addition to a lifetime immunity after leaving the office of the President, they will also be exempt from questioning, search and arrest by police or investigators.

The report says the legislation is part of a constitutional amendment passed this year during a nationwide vote to allow Putin to run for president until 2036.

Earlier, former presidents were exempt only for crimes committed during their presidency.

Now, after the new legislation, a former president can be granted immunity even if he has been convicted of treason or other crimes and of any kind by the Supreme or Constitutional Court.

The bill, signed by Putin, would give former presidents an additional lifetime membership in the Federation Council or Senate, a mandate to ensure legal immunity after leaving the presidency.

Last month, rumours circulated in the media that the Russian president was resigning due to ill health, but the Kremlin denied the reports.

Russia’s lower house of parliament has approved a bill to keep secret information about Russia’s judiciary, law enforcement, regulatory and military organizations.

The bill will now become law after President Putin signs it, which is being considered a mere prelude to the bill.

Earlier, the Russian government has rejected opposition leader Alexei Navalny claimed of plotting to assassinate him by putting poison on his pants.

According to a Reuters report, Alexei Navalny had said in his record statement yesterday that an agent of the state intelligence agency had told him that the poison was kept in his underwear, among other things.

Navalny said in a YouTube interview with a Russian blogger, “They understood that there were big, big problems threatening them ahead of elections for the State Duma.” It was his first video appearance since being discharged from a Berlin hospital,

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters that he thinks Alexei Navalny was a sick man who suffered psychological complexes surrounding authority and power.

Peskov said, Navalny has “delusions of persecution” and also exhibited clear “traits of megalomania”.

British officials had said that the Soviet-era Novichok was the poison used in England in 2018 on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Russia has said the Kremlin had no role in poisoning Navalny and accused Germany of failing to provide evidence.