Chapter 2. Rights and Freedoms of Man and Citizen

 

Article 17

 

1. In the Russian Federation recognition and guarantees shall be provided for the rights and freedoms of man and citizen according to the universally recognised principles and norms of international law and according to the present Constitution.

 

2. Fundamental human rights and freedoms are inalienable and shall be enjoyed by everyone from the day of birth.

 

3. The exercise of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen shall not violate the rights and freedoms of other people.

 

Article 18

The rights and freedoms of man and citizen shall operat directly. They determine the essence, meaning and implementation of laws, the activities of the legislative and executive authorities, local self-government and shall be ensured by the administration of justice.

 

Article 19

 

1. All people shall be equal before the law and courts.

 

2. The State shall guarantee the equality of rights and freedoms of man and citizen, regardless of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official status, place of residence, religion, convictions, membership of public associations, and also of other circumstances. All forms of limitations of human rights on social, racial, national, linguistic or religious grounds shall be banned.

 

3. Men and women shall enjoy equal rights and freedoms and have equal possibilities to exercise them.

 

Article 20

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to life.

 

2. Capital punishment until its complete abolition may be envisaged by a federal law only as a penalty for especially grave crimes against life, and the accused shall be granted the right to have his case examined by a jury.

 

Article 21

 

1. Human dignity shall be protected by the State. Nothing may serve as a basis for its derogation.

 

2. No one shall be subject to torture, violence or other cruel or humiliating treatment or punishment. No one may be subject to medical, scientific and other experiments without voluntary consent.

 

Article 22

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom and personal immunity.

 

2. Arrest, detention and remanding in custody shall be allowed only by court decision. Without the court's decision a person may not be detained for a term of more than 48 hours.

 

Article 23

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to the inviolability of private life, personal and family secrets, the protection of one's honour and good name.

 

2. Everyone shall have the right to privacy of correspondence, of telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other messages. Limitations of this right shall be allowed only by court decision.

 

Article 24

 

1. The collection, keeping, use and dissemination of information about the private life of a person shall not be allowed without his or her consent.

 

2. The bodies of state authority and local self-government, their officials shall ensure for everyone the possibility of acquainting themselves with the documents and materials directly affecting his or her rights and freedoms, unless otherwise provided for by law.

 

Article 25

The home shall be inviolable. No one shall have the right to enter a home against the will of those living there, except for the cases established by a federal law or by court decision.

 

Article 26

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to determine and indicate his nationality. No one may be forced to determine and indicate his or her nationality.

 

2. Everyone shall have the right to use his or her native language, to a free choice of the language of communication, upbringing, education and creative work.

 

Article 27

 

1. Everyone who legally stays in the territory of the Russian Federation shall have the right to free travel, choice of place of stay or residence.

 

2. Everyone may freely leave the Russian Federation. Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to freely return to the Russian Federation.

 

On the procedure of exit from the Russian Federation and entry into the Russian Federation see Federal Law No. 114-FZ of August 15, 1996

 

Article 28

Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of conscience, the freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with others any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, possess and disseminate religious and other views and act according to them.

 

See Federal Law No. 125-FZ of September 26, 1997 on the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations

 

Article 29

 

1. Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of ideas and speech.

 

2. Propaganda or agitation instigating social, racial, national or religious hatred and strife shall not be allowed. The propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic supremacy shall be banned.

 

3. No one may be forced to express his views and convictions or to reject them.

 

4. Everyone shall have the right to freely look for, receive, transmit, produce and distribute information by any legal means. The list of data comprising state secrets shall be determined by a federal law.

 

5. The freedom of mass communication shall be guaranteed. Censorship shall be banned.

 

Article 30

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to association, including the right to create trade unions for the protection of his or her interests. The freedom of activity of public association shall be guaranteed.

 

2. No one may be compelled to join any association and remain in it.

 

Concerning trade unions, their rights and guarantees for their activity see Federal Law No. 10-FZ of January 12, 1996

Concerning activities of public associations see Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 on Public Associations and Federal Law No. 95-FZ of July 11, 2001 on Political Parties

 

Article 31

Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings and demonstrations, marches and pickets.

 

On Rallies, Meetings, Demonstrations, Marches and Picketing, see Federal Law No. 54-FZ of June 19, 2004

 

Article 32

 

1. Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to participate in managing state affairs both directly and through their representatives.

 

2. Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to elect and be elected to state bodies of power and local self-government bodies, and also to participate in referenda.

 

As to the Referendum of the Russian Federation, see Federal Constitutional Law No. 5-FKZ of June 28, 2004

 

3. Citizens recognised by court as legally unfit, as well as citizens kept in places of confinement under a court sentence, shall be deprived of the right to elect and be elected.

 

4. Citizens of the Russian Federation shall enjoy equal access to state service.

 

5. Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to participate in administering justice.

 

Article 33

Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to address personally, as well as to submit individual and collective appeals to state bodies and local self-government bodies.

 

On the procedure for handling applications of citizens of the Russian Federation, see Federal Law No. 59-FZ of May 2, 2006

 

Article 34

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to free use of his abilities and property for entrepreneurial and economic activities not prohibited by law.

 

2. Economic activity aimed at monopolization and unfair competition shall not be allowed.

 

Article 35

 

1. The right of private property shall be protected by law.

 

2. Everyone shall have the right to have property, possess, use and dispose of it both personally and jointly with other people.

 

3. No one may be deprived of property other than by a court decision. Forced confiscation of property for state needs may be carried out only with the condition that preliminary and complete compensation.

 

4. The right of inheritance shall be guaranteed.

 

Article 36

 

1. Citizens and their associations shall have the right to possess land as private property.

 

2. Possession, utilization and disposal of land and other natural resources shall be exercised by the owners freely, if it is not detrimental to the environment and does not violate the rights and lawful interests of other people.

 

3. The terms and rules for the use of land shall be established by a federal law.

 

Article 37

 

1. Labour is free. Everyone shall have the right to freely use his labour capabilities, to choose the type of activity and profession.

 

2. Forced labour shall be banned.

 

3. Everyone shall have the right to labour conditions meeting the safety and hygiene requirements, to labour remuneration without any discrimination whatsoever and to wages and salaries not lower than the minimum established by federal law, as well as the right to protection against unemployment.

 

4. Recognition shall be given to the right to individual and collective labour disputes with the use of methods for their resolution established by federal law, including the right to strike.

 

5. Everyone shall have the right to rest and leisure. Those working under labour contracts shall be guaranteed a fixed duration of working time, days off and holidays, and annual paid leave established by federal law.

 

Article 38

 

1. Maternity and childhood, and the family shall be protected by the State.

 

2. Care for children and their upbringing shall be equally the right and obligation of parents.

 

3. Able-bodied children over 18 years of age shall take care of disabled parents.

 

Article 39

 

1. Everyone shall be guaranteed social security at the expense of the State in old age, in case of illness, disability, loss of the bread-winner, for bringing up children and in other cases established by law.

 

2. State pensions and social allowances shall be established by law.

 

3. Promotion shall be given to voluntary social insurance and the creation of additional forms of social security and charity.

 

Article 40

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to a home. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of his or her home.

 

2. The bodies of state authority and local self-government shall encourage housing construction and create conditions for exercising the right to a home.

 

3. People on low-incomes and other persons mentioned in law and in need of a home shall receive it gratis or for reasonable payment from the state, municipal and other housing stocks according to the norms established by law.

 

Article 41

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to health protection and medical aid. Medical aid in state and municipal health establishments shall be rendered to individuals gratis, at the expense of the corresponding budget, insurance contributions and other proceeds.

 

2. In the Russian Federation federal programmes for protecting and improving the health of the population shall be financed by the State; measures shall be adopted to develop state, municipal and private health services; activities shall be promoted which facilitate the improvement of health, the development of physical culture and sport, ecological and sanitary-epidemiological well-being.

 

3. The concealment by officials of facts and circumstances posing a threat to the life and health of people shall entail responsibility according to federal law.

 

Article 42

Everyone shall have the right to a favourable environment, reliable information about its state and to restitution for damage inflicted on his health and property by ecological transgressions.

 

Article 43

 

1. Everyone shall have the right to education.

 

2. Guarantees shall be provided for general access to and free pre-school, secondary and higher vocational education in state or municipal educational establishments and at enterprises.

 

3. Everyone shall have the right to receive on a competitive basis a free higher education in a state or municipal educational establishment and at an enterprise.

 

4. The basic general education shall be free of charge. Parents or those acting as such shall enable their children to receive a basic general education.

 

5. The Russian Federation shall establish federal state educational standards and support various forms of education and self-education.

 

On education see Law of the Russian Federation No. 3266-1 of July 10, 1992

 

Article 44

 

1. Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of literary, artistic, scientific, technical and other types of creative activity, and teaching. Intellectual property shall be protected by law.

 

2. Everyone shall have the right to participate in cultural life and use cultural establishments and to access to items of cultural value.

 

3. Everyone shall be obliged to care for the preservation of cultural and historical heritage and protect monuments of history and culture.

 

Article 45

 

1. State protection of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen shall be guaranteed in the Russian Federation.

 

2. Everyone shall be free to protect his rights and freedoms by all means not prohibited by law.

 

Article 46

 

1. Everyone shall be guaranteed judicial protection of his rights and freedoms.

 

2. Decisions and actions (or inaction) of bodies of state authority and local self-government, public associations and officials may be appealed against in court.

 

3. Everyone shall have the right to appeal, according to international treaties of the Russian Federation, to international bodies for the protection of human rights and freedoms, if all the existing internal state means of legal protection have been exhausted.

 

Article 47

 

1. No one may be deprived of the right to the consideration of his or her case in that court and by that judge in whose cognizance the given case is according to law.

 

2. A person accused of committing a crime shall have the right to the examination of his case by a jury court in cases envisaged by federal law.

 

Article 48

 

1. Everyone shall be guaranteed the right to qualified legal assistance. In cases envisaged by law the legal assistance shall be free.

 

2. Any person detained, taken into custody or accused of committing a crime shall have the right to receive the assistance of a lawyer (counsel for the defence) from the moment of detention, confinement in custody or facing charges accordingly.

 

Article 49

 

1. Everyone accused of committing a crime shall be considered innocent until his guilt is proved according to the rules fixed by federal law and confirmed by the sentence of a court which has come into legal force.

 

2. The accused shall not be obliged to prove his innocence.

 

3. Unremovable doubts about the guilt of a person shall be interpreted in favour of the accused.

 

Article 50

 

1. No one may be convicted twice for one and the same crime.

 

2. In administering justice it shall not be allowed to use evidence received by violating federal law.

 

3. Everyone convicted of a crime shall have the right to appeal against the judgement in a superior court according to the rules envisaged by federal law, as well as to ask for pardon or mitigation of punishment.

 

Article 51

 

1. No one shall be obliged to give evidence incriminating themselves, a husband or wife or close relatives the range of whom is determined by federal law.

 

2. Federal law may envisage other cases of absolution from the obligation to testify.

 

Article 52

The rights of victims of crimes and of abuse of office shall be protected by law. The State shall provide access to justice for them and compensation for the damage sustained.

 

Article 53

Everyone shall have the right to state compensation for damage caused by unlawful actions (inaction) of bodies of state authority and their officials.

 

Article 54

 

1. A law introducing or aggravating responsibility shall not have retrospective effect.

 

2. No one may bear responsibility for an action which was not regarded as a crime when it was committed. If after violating the law the relevant responsibility is eliminated or mitigated, the new law shall be applied.

 

Article 55

 

1. The listing in the Constitution of the Russian Federation of the fundamental rights and freedoms shall not be interpreted as a rejection or derogation of other universally recognized human rights and freedoms.

 

2. In the Russian Federation no laws shall be adopted cancelling or derogating human rights and freedoms.

 

3. The rights and freedoms of man and citizen may be limited by federal law only to the extent necessary for the protection of the fundamental principles of the constitutional system, morality, health, the rights and lawful interests of other people, for ensuring defence of the country and security of the State.

 

Article 56

 

1. In conditions of a state of emergency, in order to ensure the safety of citizens and the protection of the constitutional system and in accordance with federal constitutional law certain limitations may be placed on human rights and freedoms with the establishment of the extent and duration of such limitations.

 

2. A state of emergency may be introduced in the whole territory of the Russian Federation and in certain parts thereof in the circumstances and according to the rules established by the federal constitutional law.

 

See Federal Constitutional Law No. 3-FKZ of May 30, 2001 on the State of Emergency

 

3. The rights and freedoms envisaged in Articles 20, 21, 23 (the first part), 24, 28, 34 (the first part),40 (the first part), 46-54 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, shall not be liable to limitation.

 

Article 57

Everyone shall be obliged to pay the legally established taxes and dues. Laws introducing new taxes or deteriorating the position of taxpayers may not have retroactive effect.

 

Article 58

Everyone shall be obliged to preserve nature and the environment, treat and carefully the riches of nature.

 

Article 59

 

1. Defence of the Fatherland shall be a duty and obligation of citizens of the Russian Federation.

 

2. A citizen shall carry out military service according to federal law.

 

3. A citizen of the Russian Federation shall have the right to replace military service by alternative civilian service if his convictions or religious belief prohibit military service and also in other cases envisaged by federal law.

 

Article 60

A citizen of the Russian Federation may exercise his or her rights and duties in full from the age of 18.

 

Article 61

 

1. A citizen of the Russian Federation may not be deported from Russia or extradited to another State.

 

2. The Russian Federation shall guarantee its citizens protection and patronage abroad.

 

Article 62

 

1. A citizen of the Russian Federation may hold the citizenship of a foreign State (dual citizenship) according to federal law or an international agreement of the Russian Federation.

 

2. The possession of foreign citizenship by a citizen of the Russian Federation shall not derogate his rights and freedoms and shall not free him from the obligations stipulated by Russian citizenship, unless otherwise provided for by federal law or an international agreement of the Russian Federation.

 

3. Foreign nationals and stateless persons shall enjoy in the Russian Federation the rights and bear the obligations of citizens of the Russian Federation, except for cases envisaged by federal law or international agreement of the Russian Federation.

 

See Federal Law No. 115-FZ of July 25, 2002 on the Legal Position of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation

 

Article 63

 

1. The Russian Federation shall grant political asylum to foreign nationals and stateless persons according to the universally recognised norms of international law.

 

2. In the Russian Federation it shall not be allowed to extradite to other States those people who are persecuted for political convictions, as well as for actions (or inaction) not recognised as a crime in the Russian Federation. The extradition of people accused of a crime, and also the handing over of convicted persons to serve sentences in other States shall be carried out on the basis of federal law or the international agreement of the Russian Federation.

 

See the Regulations on the Procedure for Granting Political Asylum by the Russian Federation approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 746 of July 21, 1997

 

Article 64

The provisions of the present chapter comprise the basis of the legal status of the individual in the Russian Federation and may not be changed otherwise then according to the rules introduced by the present Constitution.