Alexander Ermolenko, head of FBK Legal corporate practice on preventive measures against unlawful conduct

Alexander Ermolenko, head of FBK Legal corporate practice in his interview to Nezavisimaya Gazeta commented upon the news that The Ministry of Internal Affairs is developing a draft law on preventive measures against unlawful conduct. Compulsory psychiatric treatment is among them. “Real situation in Russia is such that this issue is a real threat to mentally adequate people. This is associated with the fact that authorities and society are moving afar in opposite directions, this is why the situation in society is heating up”, Ermolenko noted. The expert also noted that strengthening penal control of law enforcement authorities is an alarming signal. Prevention of violations, according to him, is a rather complicated task, and should not be handled by police, but psychologists, sociologists and other experts. “At the moment, unfortunately, the state cannot provide normal functioning of the system. Thus a conclusion comes up that this tool can easily be used as a penalty”, Ermolenko concluded.