MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The issue of using the Internet to induce young people to suicide has drawn attention after a number of suicides of Russian teenagers were tied to certain public groups in social media.
"I support the State Duma’s initiative to augment the legislation with the rule that expands the list of the actions leading to criminal liability for inducement to suicide. This would allow to bring to justice the owners, creators and administrators of such websites, to put an end to their destructive and, I repeat, criminal activities," Putin said while speaking to Interior Ministry officials.
Earlier in the day, Russian lawmaker Irina Yarovaya announced that the bill on criminalizing the inducement of children to commit suicide would be introduced to the State Duma on Thursday. According to the draft, the penalty for a group of people for inducing minors and pregnant women to commit suicide is deprivation of liberty for up to eight years. Persuasion, proposal, bribery, deception used to induce to suicide will be punishable with deprivation of liberty for up to six years.
