In 2008, within the frame of the project ‘Independent Expert Examination in Death Cases of Servicemen', the Mother's Right Foundation together with the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia (IPAR) continued forwarding the draft law on independent expert examination.

The draft of the federal law ‘On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation' is aimed at the realization of the principle of competition and equality of parties in cases when the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law regulate the use of knowledge in science, engineering, art and trade.

To forward the draft law, the experts and authors worked out the Conception in which they stated the reasons for its necessity (its actuality), and explain the proposed amendments to the Law, as well as its aims and purposes.

The draft law is aimed to improve basic laws: appointing and processing an expert examination; involving an expert in a case; presenting, researching, and evaluation of evidences received with the help of special knowledge.

For better understanding of today's problems arising before medico-legal experts, we participated in their Forum where we could discuss these problems with professionals from all over Russia.

The draft law and its Conception were published in:

• The Independent Psychiatry Magazine (and the IPAR site) to be discussed by psychiatrist, psychologists, medico-legal experts, and criminalists.
• The New Justice Magazine to be discussed by procedure lawyers, judges, advocates, public prosecutors, professors of Law colleges, scientists, and representatives of law making bodies.

The draft law was sent to:

• * the manager of the group working on improving  the RF Law on the Judicial system, L.I. Brycheva, Executive Assistant to the President of the RF, Head of the State Legal Department.
• * the Federal Service for Supervision of Public Health and Social Development of Moscow and the Moscow Region - to work out proposals.
• * the Moscow State University, Law Department, Sub-Faculty of Civil Process - for discussion.

The draft law was sent for discussion to the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitrary and Procedure Law, according to the Federal Law ‘On Public Organizations', article 27, section 1.

The draft law was discussed by the experts of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia and received support at the session of the Expert Board of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation with the participation of representatives of State and non-governmental expert organizations, leading Moscow advocates, professors of law colleges, representatives of Public Health Bodies supervising medico-legal expert examinations. Under proposal of the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation, the experts prepared the document stating the grounds for including the draft law in the State Anti-Corruption Program.

The forwarding of the draft law is the theme of the article by Zoya Svetova in The Novye Izvestia (June 2, 2008) as well as of the address by the Chairlady of the Mother's Right Foundation Board, Veronika Marchenko, on the Moscow Speaking radio program (June 16, 2008). V. Marchenko is a member of the Scientific Consulting Council of the GOPP.

In June 2008, while working on the death case of Alexander Zuyev from the Perm Region, the Mother's Right Foundation cooperated with the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Perm Region (T.I. Margolina). We experienced the first positive result while working on the death case of Yevgeny Kargashin from the Perm Region in 2007.

The Mother's Right Foundation continued its cooperation with the General Office of Public Prosecutor of the RF. V. Marchenko is a member of the Scientific Consulting Council of the GOPP.

On December 15, 2008, V. Marchenko, Chairlady of the Mother's Right Foundation Board, negotiated with Zinaida Grigorievna Dmitriyeva, Chief of the Social Payments Department of the Moscow and the Moscow Region Branch of the Pension Fund.  The negotiations were initiated by the Pension Fund Department. We agreed to cooperate and to conduct joint meetings with the Department. The Mother's Right Foundation lawyers will conduct seminars for those officials who work with members of dead servicemen's families. 

Within the reporting period, the Mother's Right Foundation sent to the RF President, D.A. Medvedev, proposal that Decree No. 313 of May 27, 2006 ‘Regulations on Repairing Individual Houses of Members of Servicemen's Families that Lost Breadwinners' be applied to parents of dead servicemen. Our second proposal was to send to the RF State Duma the draft law on amendments to article 2, p. 5, of the Federal Law ‘On Status of Servicemen' stipulating that servicemen be considered as members of their families. The Foundation received an official letter informing us that our proposal had been considered and supported: ‘At present, under the Commission of the RF Government of August 16, 2008 (No. CI-P4-5055) the Ministry of Defense is working on amendments to Federal Law No. 76-FL of May 27, 1998 ‘On Status of Servicemen'. On December 17, 2008, the Chairlady of the Mother's Right Foundation Board, Veronika Marchenko, took part in the meeting with the interested parties and departments (RF Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Public Health and Social Development, MIA and FSB of Russia) and discussed the project amending the Federal Law ‘On Status of Servicemen'.

Besides, within the reporting period, the session of the Mother's Right Foundation Board (record of October 30, 2008) nominated Natalia Mikhailovna Dzyadko and Marina Mikhailovna Polivanova for the Public Supervison Committee of the Moscow Region (in connection with the Federal Law ‘On Public Control of Human Rights in Places of Forced Detention').

We could have evaluated the Foundation's cooperation with the State bodies as fruitful but for Vladimir Nikolayevich Silkin, Chief of the Property and Land Relations Complex (see The Novaya Gazeta, issue of November 17, 2008, article by Olga Bobrova ‘Is Our Capital for Rich?'; The Moskovsky Komsomolets, issue of November 14, 2008; article by Ekaterina Pakhomova ‘Half of Million Moscovites Will Lose Their Jobs'), who declared to the Mass Media that the lease contract with the Mother's Right Foundation would be cancelled. When our protégés read V. Silkin's statement, they were seriously worried that the Foundation providing free legal assistance could lose its premises. The heads of the Committees of Soldiers' Parents of the Amur Region, the Vologda Region, the Ivanovo Region, the Irkutsk Region, the Moscow Region, the Orenburg Region, the Penza Region, the Perm Region, the Rostov Region, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Tver Region, the Ulyanovsk Region, the Chelyabinsk Region, the Yaroslavl Region, the Altai Territory, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Republic of Tatarstan, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Juish Autonomous Area, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area, and Ukraine sent Silkin letters protesting against his decision and supporting the Mother's Right Foundation: they demanded not to dispossess us of the modest premises in Luchnikov Lane.