Russian parliament to discuss surgical castration of pedophiles

A lawmaker of the center-left A Just Russia party on Wednesday introduced to the State Duma a bill on surgical castration for child sex offenders for cases when chemical castration is insufficient.

In early October, Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, voted in favor of chemical castration for convicted pedophiles. The process involves regular injections that reduce the libido and sexual activity, but is considered reversible when the treatment is discontinued.

“I suggest introducing chemical and surgical castration as coercive medical measures,” A Just Russia lawmaker Anton Belyakov said.

The lawmaker said the court should be entitled to impose surgical castration on a convicted pedophile if the judge is convinced that chemical castration would be insufficient to prevent him from committing sex offenses.

“Surgical castration can also be imposed on people who attempt to evade chemical castration. Only such complex measures will give children protection from pedophiles,” Belyakov said.

He added that the Czech Republic has practiced surgical castration for child sex offenders over the past 30 years “and not a single sexual reoccurrence has been recorded.”

The Russian authorities moved to toughen punishment for pedophiles in 2009, following a surge in child rape cases earlier that year. Before 2009, rapists were sentenced to just eight to 15 years in prison.

The law was changed that year, with rapists getting sentences of to up to 20 years in prison. Despite their long jail terms, many convicts offend again, and many are paroled.

According to the Investigative Committee, more than 9,500 children suffered at the hands of pedophiles in Russia last year. Some 960 of them were raped, of which one-third were younger than 14. The figures are almost three times higher than in 2008.

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