MOSCOW, June 27 (RAPSI) - Russia's Ministry of Justice has developed a draft law that excludes a possibility for mentally unstable individuals convicted of minor offenses to avoid responsibility, and proposes that courts send them for compulsory treatment, the ministry's statement said on Thursday. 

The draft law proposes excluding the provision that obliges courts to dismiss criminal cases against individuals who committed a non-grave crime in a state of insanity from the Criminal Procedure Code.

"Adopting the proposed amendments will allow courts in aforementioned cases to send individuals dangerous to themselves and others for compulsory medical treatment. This measure will secure protection of rights of the accused person as well as other citizens, including the victim," the statement said. 

According to the press office of the Constitutional Court, Russia's Constitutional Court has ruled in May that mentally unstable individuals convicted of minor offenses can be sent for compulsory treatment if they are ruled to pose danger to themselves or to others.

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, an individual who has committed a crime and been found mentally unstable is absolved of criminal liability and can be sent for compulsory treatment. However, the disputed clause allowed for this requirement to be invalidated if the crime under consideration is a minor offense.

The Constitutional Court ruled that courts should be guided by the danger posed by the convicted person rather than by the severity of the crime. "The disputed clause is in conflict with this decision because it allows a mentally unstable individual who has committed a minor offense to be released without evaluating the danger that individual may pose... Therefore, this clause does not comply with the Constitution," the statement reads.

Under Article 15 of the Criminal Procedure Code, minor offenses are defined as premeditated careless deeds punishable by no more than three years in prison.