Constitutional Court upholds the appeal by Manana Aslamazyan

The RF Constitutional Court has upheld the appeal by journalist Manana Aslamazyan, who requested the Court to adjudicate whether Article 188.1 of the Criminal Code is constitutional. The Court’s decision was announced by Judge Ludmila Zharkova.

According to the disputed part 1 of Article 188, an individual accused of the criminal offence of smuggling into Russia more hard currency than the 250,000 roubles allowed (approximately 10,000 US dollars) is charged for the entire sum he or she had brought into the country, not merely that part which exceeds the permitted total.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the disputed norm does not correspond with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and violates the principles of equality and justice. In the text of its judgment the Court indicated that bringing hard currency into Russia is not in itself considered an infringement of the country’s economic interests under current legislation. Only that part of the undeclared currency which exceeds the limit permitted by law qualifies as an illegal sum. Both administrative and criminal responsibility are established for such infractions of the law. Criminal responsibility is invoked in cases where the undeclared sums are particularly large.

As Judge Zharkova announced, when criminal responsibility for smuggling hard currency was introduced, legislators at the federal level should have formulated the law in such a way that when the amount undeclared was pronounced particularly large, the sum permitted for admission without declaration should be deducted from the total. According to the Court’s ruling, part 1 of Article 188 now loses its force and cannot be applied. Decisions taken by courts and other bodies on the basis of 188.1, including the case of Ms Aslamazyan, should be re-examined.

In January 2007 Ms Aslamazyan was detained on her return from Paris at Sheremetyevo airport. On passing customs, the investigators claimed, Ms Aslamazyan failed to declare 9,550 euros and more than 5,000 roubles. A criminal case was instigated against her for “smuggling”. She gave her agreement not to leave Russia but did so and is now subject to an international arrest warrant.

“I have just been told the result,” Ms Aslamazyan told Interfax by telephone on Tuesday, “and I do not know the exact wording. I am overjoyed, nevertheless, because after a year of torment, the most frightful year of my life, this decision marks some kind of end.” She regards the Court’s decision as “objective, independent and an expression of common sense”.

“Of course, we shall now petition for the criminal case against me to be closed,” commented Aslamazyan, “but I’m afraid that will not be done quickly. And for the time being, regrettably, I cannot return to my country.” “However, I believe that I shall do so, and will be able to travel peacefully to Russia, even though I haven’t got a job, since the organisation I headed no longer exists.”

A petition for the criminal case against Aslamazyan to be closed, in view of the decision taken today by the Constitutional Court, will be submitted by the journalist’s lawyers on 28 May. “Tomorrow, as soon as I have returned to Moscow, I shall submit the relevant petition and whether the investigators want it or not, the criminal case must be closed. There is no appeal against a ruling of the Constitutional Court. It is a decision which must be implemented without delay,” the lawyer Victor Pashutkin told journalists.

(Interfax, 27.05.2008)