Human Rights Council (HRC) chose the new head of the permanent commission on civil participation in the development of the penitentiary system. Alexei Melnikov, a member of the HRC, executive secretary of the Public Monitoring Commission of the city of Moscow, became the winner. In this post, he replaced Andrei Babushkin, who died in May 2022.
Mr. Babushkin has been involved in the reform of the penitentiary system since 1991. In 2014, he became one of the initiators of the creation of an interdepartmental working group to finalize the Concept for the reform of the penitentiary system. Andrei Babushkin died on May 14, 2022 at the age of 58.
Mr. Melnikov joined the HRC in November 2022. Then the composition of the council updated President Vladimir Putin.