MOSCOW, March 22 (RAPSI) — The Government has submitted to the State Duma a bill setting the time frame for which a person in custody is to be temporarily placed in a medical institution that provides psychiatric care, according to the official database of the lower house of Russia’s parliament.

The draft law provides for the procedure and grounds for extending the period of stay of persons in a medical organization, including the introduction of restrictive requirements as to the regime of such stay. The bill envisages that the Code of Criminal Procedure is to be amended with respect to special powers of the court to make decisions on the temporary placement of suspects, accused persons, and detainees in a medical organization and on an extension of the temporary stay of such suspects and accused persons in a medical organization, the explanatory note to the document reads.

Earlier, Chair of the Association of Lawyers of Russia Vladimir Gruzdev informed RAPSI that the draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure establish that courts are to be granted the right to send those under investigation for treatment to psychiatric hospitals for up to six months.

If necessary, this period can be repeatedly extended for another six months each time. The six months period or treatment is not the only option under discussion. Thus, the Supreme Court of Russia proposes to set this time limit at two months, so lawmakers will have to decide which period is optimal, Gruzdev noted.

The Association's Chair clarified that the draft law deals with the situations where it is impossible to compete an investigation due to a person's condition.

This situation should not be confused with that where court prescribe compulsory medical measures with respect to persons who have committed crimes in a state of insanity, or who, after committing a crime, have a mental disorder that makes it impossible to impose punishment. The transfer of the person under investigation to a psychiatric hospital is a temporary measure and does not exclude the continuation of the investigation if the patient's condition improves, Gruzdev explained.