#7 - JRL 7210
Prosecutor hits out at "manipulation" of Russian crime figures
ITAR-TASS

Khanty-Mansiysk, 4 June: Russian Deputy Prosecutor-General Yuriy Zolotov believes that "reports about the stabilization of the crime situation in the country are manifestly exaggerated".

"A semblance of law and order is being achieved largely through manipulation of statistics," he stressed in an address to a conference of commissions on pardons in regions of the Urals Federal District, which is taking place today in Khanty-Mansiysk. In actual fact, he said, "the statistics reflect not the level of crime in the country, but the level at which the state and society counter crime".

The participants in the conference, speaking about prospects for the development of the pardons mechanism, noted "the need to humanize crime policy and introduce more broadly a list of alternative penalties which would substitute for criminal punishment". At the present time, according to figures presented by a representative of the Justice Ministry, Russia holds first place in the world for the number of people detained in places of confinement.