Report: Detention Without Trial Allowed Since 2022

In 2022, Putin allowed security forces to place people in pretrial detention without a court decision on charges of “opposing the SMO,” according to the human rights project Pervy Otdel (designated a “foreign agent” by the Russian government).

The existence of such a document has not been officially reported.

According to the project, it refers to a decision dated March 8, 2022. Pervy Otdel obtained a document from the Investigative Committee of Russia stating that the FSB placed a Russian citizen in detention citing a “decision of the President of the Russian Federation dated 08.03.2022 on organizing the reception and placement of persons opposing the SMO.” No criminal case was opened against him.

According to the document, both Russian citizens and foreigners can be placed in facilities operating as detention centers. The Armed Forces, FSB, МВД, and ФСО have the authority to send people there.

The Investigative Committee also referred to a “temporary instruction” governing these facilities, but no public information about it is available.

As Pervy Otdel notes, such practices contradict Article 22 of the Russian Constitution, which states that deprivation of liberty is only possible by court decision.