Life Sentence for Rebellion: Government Proposes Changes to the Criminal Code In Russia, the punishment for participation and organization of an armed rebellion may be toughened. The corresponding bill has appeared on the State Duma’s website. Currently, responsibility for participation in a rebellion is regulated by Article 279 of the Criminal Code (CC). According to its text, individuals involved in a rebellion can be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 12 to 20 years, regardless of the degree of their involvement in the crimes and consequences. According to the authors of the bill, an armed rebellion represents a serious threat to society, comparable to terrorist and subversive activities. But unlike Articles 205 “Terrorist Act” and 281 “Subversion,” which provide for different measures of responsibility depending on the severity of the consequences, Article 279 CC does not take this factor into account. To correct this shortcoming, the government proposed supplementing the article with the following points: • for organizing a rebellion - imprisonment for 15–20 years with restriction of freedom for up to 2 years; • for participation - imprisonment for 12–20 years with restriction of freedom for up to 2 years; • if the crime resulted in a person’s death or other serious consequences - imprisonment for 15–20 years with a fine of 500,000 to 1 million rubles or in the amount of the convicted person’s salary for a period of 2 to 5 years, or life imprisonment. In addition, the government wants to amend Article 275 (state treason). It is proposed to supplement the text with the provision that a person can be exempted from liability for rebellion if they helped to prevent it. It is believed that the need to toughen responsibility for such crimes arose after the armed rebellion organized by the head of PMC “Wagner,” Yevgeny Prigozhin. President Vladimir Putin, commenting on those events, called them treason and a “stab in the back”.