The Public Council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs called for combating drunk driving within the framework of the law

The problem of drunkenness at the wheel is quite serious, but it must be dealt with within the framework of legislation. Igor Morzharetto, a member of the Presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia on October 16.

He recalled that the active fight against drunk drivers is yielding results: the number of accidents involving them has been steadily decreasing over the past few years, he recalls. At the same time, the fight against drunk driving must be conducted in strict accordance with the law. The principle of "the end justifies the means" is absolutely unacceptable here, Morjaretto emphasizes.

"There are examples of countries where cars have already been confiscated from drunk drivers, but in the end this measure was abandoned. In some cases, the seizure of cars from such drivers conflicts with issues of property rights and other basic rights of a citizen," Morjaretto said.

The day before, on October 15, the Supreme Court allowed the confiscation of a car for repeated drunk driving from a violator, even though he is not the owner of the car, for example, if it is registered to his common-law wife, the Russian Agency for Legal and Judicial Information (RAPSI) reports. On October 16, Sergei Radko, a lawyer for the Freedom of Choice movement, told Izvestia how this correlates with the requirement of legislation providing for the possibility of confiscation of property only from the owner.

Radko calls the Supreme Court's decision ambiguous. The current legislation allows for the confiscation of vehicles belonging to the accused and used by him in the commission of a crime under Articles 264.1, 264.2 or 264.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he recalls.

"In this situation, both the convicted driver and his roommate actually stated during the court session that this car was their common property. And since the Plenum of the Supreme Court had previously decided to confiscate a car owned by the spouses in a similar situation, a similar decision was made in this case. In fact, we are talking about the so—called "judicial expediency," Sergei Radko told Izvestia.

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Earlier that day, the third Court of Cassation of general jurisdiction allowed cars to be seized from drunk drivers, regardless of their financial situation. The court considered the case of a motorist who twice got behind the wheel drunk. In the first case, the court limited itself to administrative punishment, but the second violation ended in a criminal case. The defendant's attempt to challenge the confiscation of the car in cassation failed, and the court ruled that the financial situation of the culprit did not matter in this situation.

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