Womenchapter Desk:
A Russian newspaper has claimed victims of domestic abuse should be ‘proud of their bruises’.
A column in Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of the country’s most popular papers, has said that women should ‘find solace’ in the fact that women who suffer domestic violence are more likely to give birth to boys.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Tuesday which decriminalises domestic violence, sparking allegations his government is ‘trivialising’ the problem.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law on Tuesday an amendment that decriminalizes domestic violence, making physical abuse of a spouse, child, or elder parent punishable by a monetary fine rather than time in prison. Both houses of Russian parliament approved the measure handily—the first reading of the amendment in the lower house passed 386 to one.
Under the new law, a person can beat his spouse or child until she’s bloodied and bruised, and as long as her injuries don’t require a hospital stay, he’ll get hit with a fine if his victim presses charges. The most jail time he’ll serve will be 15 days. Previously, domestic abusers faced a maximum of two years in prison. The amendment offers domestic abusers this easy out as long as they don’t commit more than one severe beating a year.
The country is one of the few in the world without a specific domestic violence law.
Source:
- the russian reader
- slate.com
- csmonitor.com