MOSCOW, March 27 (RAPSI) – Mitigation of sentence for illegal purchase, keeping, transportation, manufacture and processing of narcotic substances not for sale will facilitate the rehabilitation of drug-addicted persons, according to an expert board responsible to Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova.

During their meeting experts discussed problems of human rights protection in criminal justice, in particular the matter of sentence mitigation for drug addicts, the ombudsman’s website reads. Amendments to the Criminal Code softening drug addicts’ punishment would facilitate their recovery and foster strategic objectives of struggle against drugs and relevant crimes, experts said.

Additionally, the ombudsman’s expert board drew attention to a problem of administrative expulsion of foreigners and stateless persons involved in drug trafficking from the Russian Federation, the statement reads.