On 20 January 1995, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, voted to introduce a new article in the Criminal Code, punishing the “organization of or participation in illegal armed formations”. The current wording of the new article imposes a sentence of up to eight years for such action and a possible death sentence if this is accompanied by “mass violence, the death of people or other serious damage”. Those fighting Russian troops in the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic are frequently referred to as “illegal armed formations”.
