incident Vasilyeva and the concept of justice in Russia

Yevgeny Vasilyev, the main person involved "case" Rosoboronservice "will soon be able to ask for parole. If the request is granted, it is the court-appointed obessmyslit real time. This prospect is hardly please the investigation, anonymous members of which have reported the press that in the case of parole excite new business.

The fact that the prosecutor had requested a suspended sentence for Vasileva, and the court decided to send her to the colony, many have interpreted as a nod in the direction of public opinion. Ostensibly society finds justice was done if there is no real life, robes, bunk prison gruel.

Focus on public opinion - an important topic. There a lot depends on what the concept of justice, the ratio of crime and punishment prevails in the country. In principle, the penalty can be considered sufficient, if it is, first of all, protects society from the criminal activity of the convicted person and, secondly, helps rehabilitate offenders.

For economic criminals or officials suspected of embezzlement, large fines, confiscation of property, a ban on work in government agencies or occupation of certain posts, a criminal record seem adequate and ample punitive measures. In the eyes of society and from a professional point of view of Eugenia Vasilyeva - man branded. It is difficult to imagine that in the foreseeable future it someone has admitted to the big money, the more the public.

Given the stigma, then stay in the colony - a measure of the excess. But in Russia, most of the actions of another concept of justice, which is considered to be the punishment without humiliation inadequate and correction without humiliation - impossible. Prison, of course, is perceived as a tool of humiliation.

However, to speak about the concept of justice in Russia is possible only with a certain degree of conditionality. Fairness and objectivity of the court characterizes not only follow the letter of the law, but also the ability of the public to submit clear signals: where and why to break the law is unacceptable. In other words, the court not only to punish, but also clarifies enlightens society. In Russia, this function is rudimentary, to say the least.

You can put Khodorkovsky for stealing oil and money, but one section of society perceives this as a signal "do not steal!" And the other, and quite large, the signal "do not go into politics." The same goes for Alexei Navalny. It is not entirely obvious for what Eugene Vasilyeva persecuted: for corruption or for communication with the ex-Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

The clarity of the signal, which feeds the public Russian justice also affects the inconsistency in the application of penalties in the typologically similar situations. For example, Oleg Navalny in jail, and Vasilyev, even taking into account the sentence can avoid it.

Where is the logic? It can be traced only in the case, if we recognize that the economic criminal offender economic strife. With Bulk Khodorkovsky - opponents of power, so they are punished under the full program, and Vasiliev and Serdyukov, especially after all their own.

Verdicts on the "Yukos case" or "business" Kirovlesa "outraged critical of the authorities to the segment of society. "The point of" Rosoboronexport "brings the problem of lack of transparency of justice and ambiguity of its signals to a wider audience. From it depends largely on whether the decision of the court are perceived as legitimate and fair, or as arbitrary ruling elite, which punishes and pardons on their own.