On August 26th, at the initiative of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Moscow Region, Vladimir Golovnev,  a round table was held on the topic "The role of public organizations in matters of state protection of the rights and legitimate interests of entrepreneurs in the Moscow Region who are in custody".

The First Deputy of the the main department of regional security of Moscow Region  Eduard Petrukhin,  Assistant Head of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russian Federation in Moscow Region Alexander Lysov, Assistant Prosecutor of the Moscow Region for supervision of compliance with laws in the execution of criminal penalties Igor Orekhov, Head of the 3rd department of the UOOPGU of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region Oleg Kholodiy, Chairman of the Public Supervisory Commission of the Moscow Region Sergey Leonov and entrepreneurs took part in the event.

The discussion was devoted to two topical issues.

The first concerned the observance of the rights of entrepreneurs held in custody. According to Vladimir Golovnev, since 2018, the Commissioner and his representatives have been visiting monthly pre-trial detention centers located in the Moscow Region, where legal assistance is provided to businessmen. As a rule, entrepreneurs who are in pre-trial detention centers send complaints about illegal, in their opinion, actions of law enforcement officers conducting an investigation, or requests for assistance in replacing a preventive measure with a milder one.

"Me, as the Regional Business Ombudsman and Boris Titov, as the federal Commissioner, insist that the preventive measure should be more lenient for entrepreneurs under the so-called "economic articles". This is either house arrest, or a subscription not to leave. Because we understand perfectly well that if an  entrepreneur is in a pre-trial detention center, it is not necessary to say that his business is in danger to sink or being completely destroyed," Golovnev said.

The Regional Business Ombudsman also stressed that with the assistance of the state body, it was possible twice recently to replace the measure of restraint from detention to house arrest for the entrepreneurs who applied.

Work in this direction will be strengthened. Now, additional assistance in protecting the rights of entrepreneurs who are in pre-trial detention will be provided by members of the The Public Supervisory Commission headed by its Chairman Sergey Leonov. The previously reached agreements on holding joint events were fixed on paper.

"It is very symbolic that the beginning of our cooperation was the assignment of the  Commissioner under the President of the Russian Federation for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs at the request of the spouse of a detained entrepreneur held in temporary detention center .

A joint visit was held to the applicant and other entrepreneurs in the Kashira pre-trial detention center, with legal consultations for businessmen, and their lawyers were given appropriate recommendations, "  said Chairman of the Public Supervisory Commission of the Moscow Region Sergey Leonov.

Within the framework of the Agreement, the participants of the meeting said, it is planned to systematically increase the effectiveness of the implementation of powers to ensure guarantees of state protection of human rights in places of forced detention.

The second issue discussed at the round table concerned the implementation of a project to create sites at the regional correctional center for those sentenced to forced labor on the basis of enterprises near Moscow. There are already three such sites in the region – in Kashira, Odintsovo and Kolomna.

"There are both pros and cons here, and it is very important to maintain a balance of interests of the convicts themselves, and entrepreneurs who provide jobs and invest heavily in creating the necessary infrastructure, and residents of urban districts where such institutions are located. Having devoted most of the meeting to the consideration of this topic, we came to the opinion that it is necessary to continue working on the creation of centers, while improving the current legislation," summed up the events Vladimir Golovnev.