MOSCOW, June 7 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia has prohibited lower courts to deny expungement of record if a convict had pleaded not guilty.

According to the Draft Resolution of Plenum of Supreme Court "On application by courts of the Russian Federation of Law on calculation of the expungement terms”, when considering clearing of a criminal record, courts must provide individual approach to convicts and avoid unfounded and unmotivated decisions.

Courts must take into account all information submitted by convicted persons and other information obtained by court in order to decide the matter. According to the existing requirements, conviction may be expunged if meeting two criteria, including a person’s irreproachable conduct after the completion of sentence and compensation of caused damage, the Supreme Court states.

According to the document, courts may not deny conviction expungement on grounds not provided by law, including the crime gravity, other convictions, leniency of the endured punishment, not-guilty plea and others.