Russia: inquiry presented to the Constitutional Court

On the initiative of the Radical Party an inquiry on the unconstitutionality of the new Federal anti-drug law, signed by 95 deputies from all the political groups represented in the Duma, has been presented to the Constitutional Court

A delegation from the Radical Party (Nikolaj Khramov, Kirill Shulika, Anna Zaitseva e Sergei Vorontsov) presented to the Constitutional Court an inquiry

questioning the constitutionality of several norms in the new Federal Law

"On Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances" that came into force on 15 April. The inquiry contests the law where it provides for the compulsory care of drug addicts and a forced medical examination; bans the cure of drug addicts in non-governmental health care institutions and the therapeutic use of narcotic drugs by private physicians; asserts and amends the List of controlled substances not by federal law, but by government decree.

The first signatory under the inquiry was the Hon. Valierij Borschev (Yabloko), member of the Transnational Radical Party. The other 94 signatories, representing the entire political spectrum in the State Duma, included:

Grigoni Javlinskij, Mikhail Jurjev, Sergei Ivanenko, Vladimir Lukin, Elena

Mizulina, Vjacheslav Igrunov, Aleksej Arbatov, Mikhail Menj, Igor Lukashev,

Viktor Shejnis and other deputies from the Yabloko faction; Julij Rybakov,Galina Starovojtova, Sergei Kovaljov, Sergej Jushenkov, Konstantin Borovoj,

Nikolaj Gonchar and other independents; Aleksej Podberezkin, Ivan

Nikitchjuk and other communists; Jurij Parshakov, Viktor Vishnjakov and other

liberal-democrats; Oleg Gonzharov, Nikolaj Travkin and other representatives of "Our Home - Russia".

In all probability, the Court will decide whether or not to examine the inquiry after the summer recess. The application of the contested norms will he suspended from the day the Constitutional Court begins its examination of the law.

Nikolaj Khramov, Co-ordinator for Russia of the Transnational Radical Party, issued the following statement: "This is the first truly antiprohibitionist initiative in the history of the Russian Parliament which confronts some of the most serious anticonstitutional and liberticide aspects of prohibitionism. We are encouraged by the fact that our initiative was supported by deputies from all groups: the Yabloko to the Liberal Democratic Party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to Our Home - Russia and the People's Power - which

only goes to show that the Maginot line between the crusaders of the "war on

drugs" and the partisans of good sense and the rule of law, passes through

parties that are divided. This means that the time has come to place an

antiprohibitionist intergroup on the agenda dealing with the political

organization of the Duma."