All military offenses are covered in Chapter 33 of the Criminal Code “Crimes against military service” and are secretly distributed in various areas. The Article 349 we are considering, “Violation of the rules for handling weapons and objects that pose an increased danger to others,” is included in the list of norms 345-352 of the Criminal Code, united on the basis of “careless or frivolous use of military property, weapons and non-compliance with requirements for the use of specialized equipment.”
This article differs from other norms of criminal law in the composition of the offense, object, subject, qualifying features and penalties, so we will cover each of these points in detail. Also in our material you can find examples of violations of safety requirements when handling weapons and the grounds for which liability under Art. 349 is not assigned.
The essence of the criminal act
It consists of failure to comply with established standards for handling weapons and the subsequent infliction of heavy damage to people, units of military equipment, or the occurrence of other consequences provided for by law.
Important ! A sufficient condition for an act to be recognized as an offense is the moment when adverse consequences occur.
For the composition of the violation, it is also very important to identify the cause-and-effect relationship between actions and results.
Objective side
Manifests itself in the form of an incorrect action or lack of any action. One way or another, there is improper adherence to the requirements for the use, storage, transportation or application of the items discussed in the article.
The object of the offense is the established procedure for handling weapons, ammunition, radioactive materials, explosives or other substances and objects that pose an increased danger to others.
How to handle weapons and other high-risk items is stated in such regulations as:
- Charters of internal, garrison and guard services;
- shooting courses from various types of weapons;
- manuals on small arms and mortars;
- guidelines for the storage of certain types of ammunition, explosives, chemicals, radioactive and other substances.
Reference . Requirements for handling certain types of hazardous chemical compounds and items are set out in regulations of non-military departments. Their violation is also prosecuted under Article 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Subjective side
The subjective side is characterized by the result in the form of damage to human health or other consequences resulting from the frivolous or careless attitude of the employee to his duties.
A serviceman who, for use in service, was ordered to possess weapons and objects that pose a danger to others may become guilty under Article 349 of the Criminal Code.
This is interesting:
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How to get a license for edged weapons.
Subject of the criminal act
The subject of the violation may be:
- weapons and ammunition;
- radioactive materials – substances not related to nuclear materials that emit ionizing radiation;
- explosives;
- other substances and objects (for example, various chemical, biological, highly toxic substances that are not considered weapons of mass destruction, but are still recognized as very dangerous due to their special properties).
Federal Law of December 13, 1996 N150-FZ “On Weapons” defines the concepts of weapons and ammunition. The first refers to service small arms, artillery and missile weapons available to the armed forces and other troops of the Russian Federation.
The latter include cartridges, shells, grenades and other devices that are used for shooting, detonation and other actions. Similar things, only used not in combat, but in exercises (for example, blank or training cartridges) cannot become the subject of an offense. At the same time, the use of a blank cartridge in violation of the rules for handling weapons, if this entails the consequences provided for in the commented article, forms a crime, but on the basis of non-compliance with the requirements for handling weapons, and not with ammunition.
Radioactive substances are substances that have the property of spontaneous decay and, as a result, emit electromagnetic or corpuscular radiation, which can cause serious damage to living beings (uranium, strontium, etc.).
Explosives are mixtures prone to rapid chemical reactions due to external influence directed at them. They can lead to powerful destructive consequences. Their list includes gunpowder, TNT, etc.
Second commentary to Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. Rules for the safe handling of weapons, ammunition, radioactive materials, explosives and other substances and objects that pose an increased danger to others are defined in military regulations, manuals, instructions and other regulations. The act provided for in Art. 349, constitutes a crime if it is expressed in violation of the rules for handling the specified items.
2. Rules for handling weapons are a set of techniques and a sequence of actions with weapons that ensure the safety of others while using them.
3. Grave consequences provided for in Art. 349 represent primarily physical harm, but property and organizational damage are also possible.
Part 1 provides for liability for a violation that causes serious harm to someone’s health, the destruction of military equipment, or other grave consequences. Other grave consequences mean major property and organizational damage.
Ch.ch. 2 and 3 provide for liability for violations that lead to the death of one or more persons, respectively. A mandatory element of a crime is a causal connection between the violation committed and the consequences that occur.
4. The subject of the crime is a military serviceman who, due to certain circumstances, has the opportunity to use substances and objects that pose an increased danger to others.
5. The subject of violation of the rules for handling substances and objects that pose an increased danger to others is only the military personnel to whom these substances and objects are entrusted for official use.
6. The subjective side of the crime is guilt in the form of negligence.
Qualifying features
The qualifying criterion for the first part of Article 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is the result in the form of severe damage to human health (we are talking about one person), the death of a piece of military equipment or other unfavorable results.
The concept of grave damage is specified in Article 111 of the Criminal Code. The death of military vehicles means their complete disabling, after which they cannot be used for their intended purpose. Other serious results include, for example, environmental pollution, significant material damage, disruption of an assigned mission, a decrease in the level of combat readiness, etc.
For the second part, the sign of a crime is murder due to the carelessness of an official.
To be punished under the third part, the death of two or more people must occur for the same reason as indicated for the second part of the article in question.
The actions specified in the first part of Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, belong to the category of offenses of minor gravity. The punishment under the second and third parts of the article is considered to be of medium severity.
The result in the form of carelessly caused damage to a person or his death due to non-compliance with the requirements for handling weapons and other means is entirely determined by the article in question and does not imply any other qualification according to the norms of the Criminal Code on offenses against the person.
What punishment does the culprit face?
If the unlawful act was qualified under the first part of Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the perpetrator is subject to a restriction on military service or detention in a disciplinary military unit for a maximum of two years.
Anyone guilty of a crime under Part 2 of the article in question faces imprisonment for no more than five years.
The punishment for an offense under the third part is the most severe: imprisonment for up to ten years.
When liability under Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not apply
There is no chance to avoid criminal liability at all. According to the recommendations of the plenums of the Supreme Court in cases of certain crimes against public safety, if there is competition between general and special criminal law norms, a special one should be used. However, due to certain qualifying criteria, there are exceptions to this rule.
In the system of offenses against public safety, the actions specified in Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the closest unlawful acts are from the following articles of the code:
- 218 “Violation of the rules for accounting, storage, transportation and use of explosives, flammable substances and pyrotechnic products”;
- 220 “Illegal handling of nuclear materials or radioactive substances.”
They may completely coincide in subject matter, consequences, subjects and subjective side, so in this case a careful distinction is required.
So, if the serviceman was not given instructions providing for compliance with the requirements for handling explosives, actions that resulted in heavy damage or death due to negligence should be qualified under Article 218 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Article 220 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is a little more complicated, since it provides for punishment for a wider range of offenses than Art. 349. According to 220, the object of the violation is public security relations. And if there was a failure to comply with the requirements for handling radioactive materials, but the consequences did not occur, the actions are recognized as an offense against military service, but are qualified as an attack on public safety under Part 1 of Art. 220 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Careless handling of weapons
The threat of war between Russia and Ukraine stubbornly continues to worry journalists and analysts. The armed forces are then pulled up to the border, then withdrawn, then pulled up again. Propaganda hysteria also, having reached the next degree, subsides, but then a new attack follows. In short, everything is very reminiscent of the course of a chronic disease with an uncertain outcome.
Plot: Wars of the 21st century
Of course, the main causes of the conflict have nothing to do with international relations. It is beneficial for both the Russian and Ukrainian elite to have an external enemy, and not an abstract and distant one (like the collective image of the “insidious West” on Russian television), but a concrete, familiar and close one. Something like an angry neighbor in a communal apartment, with whom there is a long-standing quarrel. Moreover, there are more or less specific claims that can always be made. On our part, this is the oppression of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine and measures to suppress the Russian language and culture. On the part of Ukraine - the annexation of Crimea to Russia and assistance to the people's republics of Donbass that broke away from the “Independence”.
The fight against the external enemy is necessary for the insecure ruling class to mobilize forces against the internal enemy, which is a fair part (if not the majority) of its own population. That is why I continue to think that it will not come to a full-fledged war - its threat is enough. However, there is one moment that threatens to prove fatal. Those who constantly teeter on the brink of war run the risk of accidentally falling through the cracks. There is a well-known theatrical rule that a gun hanging on the wall must fire sooner or later. And here the entire wall is covered with guns, sabers, pistols and scimitars. And if the situation gets out of control, the consequences could be catastrophic. The trouble here is not even the Western sanctions, which, of course, will become tougher (the Nord Stream 2 project can be marked as a dead end). It is one thing to start a war and quite another to get out of it. After all, the Kremlin does not have any strategic plan even in the event of complete victory. What to do with Ukraine if you accidentally capture it? How to deal with its problems and contradictions? And what will happen if the confrontation drags on, and instead of a small victorious war it turns out to be a protracted massacre? How will this affect the mood of society, which is already extremely irritated? What will be the price of such an irresponsible act?
If someone would really like to bring together the former republics of the Soviet Union in some modern form, then there is only one way to do this - to make Russia a peaceful, prosperous and free country, which any neighbor would consider it happiness to join.
An example from judicial practice
Let's consider the following clear example of a violation from judicial practice under Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The Baltic Garrison Military Court, having examined the materials of the criminal case against the defendant Chernykh V.V., found him guilty of committing the crime set out in Part 2 of Art. 349 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Chernykh V.V., being a contract soldier, served in the military unit XX and violated the requirements for the safe use of weapons, which through negligence resulted in the death of his colleague FULL NAME82.
The defendant was assigned a daily duty officer at the bottom of the ship, and therefore he was entitled to receive a pistol and 16 rounds of ammunition.
At about 16:55 on the same day, the defendant woke up and, getting ready to form the incoming daily squad, in violation of safety standards, unnecessarily turned off the safety of the pistol he had previously received. He also put a cartridge into the chamber and, believing that it was not there, pointed the pistol at FULL NAME82, who was sleeping on his bed. Then the trigger was pulled and a shot was fired. FULL NAME82 received a gunshot wound to the head.
The defendant Chernykh fully admitted his guilt. At the same time, he testified that he fired the shot accidentally, in a hurry to get into formation, forgetting that he had inserted the magazine into the pistol, without looking where he was pointing the pistol, and in violation of the established and known to him requirements for the safe handling of firearms.
In addition to personal confession, the defendant’s guilt in the crime is confirmed by the totality of evidence examined at the trial.
