The Federation Council had a meeting about wrongful arrests and keeping women in detention before trial.
Officials and activists want to punish investigators for their unfair actions in criminal cases. They believe this affects many Russians. They used the case of Olga Mirimskaya as an example during the discussion, which they think is important. They will use this case to appeal to the leadership of the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Senator Elena Afanasyeva said that currently 109,000 people are held in pre-trial detention centers in Russia, with about 20,000 being women. However, there are only three women's detention centers in the country: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg.
The senator mentioned reports of mistreatment in the Moscow women’s detention center that surfaced recently. She added that the conditions are unsuitable, even for individuals who have committed a crime or offense. She also highlighted the existence of legislation for people who have not yet been convicted and sent to prisons.
The experts agreed that non-violent offenders often end up in pre-trial detention centers. A member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Natalya Moskvitina, questioned the need for the existing preventive measures. Shota Gorgadze, a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, spoke about a specific case where a mother of a 6-year-old child was placed in a pre-trial detention center, despite not being a threat to others. They referred to the case of Olga Mirimskaya as an example.
Shota Gorgadze, who recently joined as a lawyer for Olga Mirimskaya, believes that her situation is representative of Russian women accused in non-violent criminal cases.
According to Gorgadze, the reason Mirimskaya is in the detention center can be explained by the investigator's goal. He believes she is there in order to pressure her into confessing and maybe falsely accusing others, despite not having committed any crime.
He wondered why Olga Mirimskaya wasn't put in a detention center earlier if she was considered dangerous to society. He argued that she hadn't harmed anyone in her 57 years and questioned the sudden urgency to detain her now.
Olga Mirimskaya's eldest daughter, Natalya Golubovich, mentioned that her mother's arrest in December was a continuation of an ongoing situation that began several years ago.
Natalya Golubovich stated that her mother had endured a difficult time in 2015 when her daughter was kidnapped. She insisted that the current situation was not new persecution, but rather criminal cases built on lies and false evidence from previous incidents.
Natalya Golubovich stressed that her mother had followed the law, even when obligated to appear in previous criminal cases, and had always returned from trips abroad. She described her mother as a law-abiding person.
Natalia Moskvitina, a member of the Public Chamber, expressed disbelief at the situation, emphasizing the importance of a child being raised by their parents. She questioned the rationale behind the detention of a 57-year-old woman, highlighting the impact on the child and the family as a whole.
Mikhail Delyagin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, recognized the significance of Olga Mirimskaya's case for society. He voiced concerns about the practice of sending individuals to pre-trial detention without proper justification, likening it to a medieval approach of breaking their will and health.
Senator Elena Afanasyeva supported the announced changes to legislation by the Presidential Human Rights Council, emphasizing the need for alternative preventive measures for individuals whose guilt in non-violent crimes has not yet been proven in court.
