Abuse of animals: Article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Cruelty towards animals is not only a moral, but also a criminal crime, followed by punishment. Fortunately, bullying of representatives of the fauna is considered at the legislative level ; this becomes a stern warning for those who behave cruelly and irresponsibly towards their “smaller brothers.”

Judicial punishments are regulated by article 245 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: animal cruelty . But not only the inclusion of an article for cruelty in the criminal code can influence a person’s attitude towards nature.

It is important to cultivate a love of nature from the first years of life, to carry out various events and activities that arouse interest in the current problem of the relationship between humans and pets, wild animals, and birds.

Despite the fact that a law on cruelty to animals has been passed, violence against pets is recorded very often. And this problem is common to many countries, even with a high level of culture. Often the reason for such actions is the desire to demonstrate their superiority over a defenseless creature .

What can a person face because of his cruelty to yard or domestic animals?

If a crime is committed on the street and is witnessed by passers-by, including children, the violators are subject to fines of up to 80,000 thousand rubles. Flayers can also be punished with community service or correctional labor.
A more serious attitude of the law towards those who have committed a crime, abuse of a dog, cat and other representatives of the fauna by prior conspiracy. Such cases are punishable by a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles. The offender will have to spend at least 480 hours in community service.
The criminal penalty for the crime of conspiracy in terms of restriction of freedom is up to two years.

The most serious punishment provided for by the criminal code for beating an animal or leaving it without food or help is arrest for six months. This is not just a tough and fair action towards the knacker, it becomes an effective preventive measure against committing a crime in the future.

ATTENTION! Unfortunately, at this time, a flayer can be brought to criminal punishment only if his crime led to the death of domestic animals or their serious injury.

Perhaps over time the charge of cruelty will become more serious. But so far, as examples from the press and the Internet show, many unfortunate fates of domestic animals or courtyard animals still remain without punishment for the offender. And judicial practice can only present rare cases of a truly tough and fair decision in relation to the knacker.

The legislative framework

When filing a complaint about violation of animal rights, you must refer to the following regulatory documents:

“Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” dated June 13, 1996 N 63-FZ;
“Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation” dated December 18, 2001 N 174-FZ;
Federal Law “On Police” dated 02/07/2011 N 3-FZ;
Federal Law “On the Responsible Treatment of Animals and Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” December 27, 2018 No. 498-FZ;
Law of the Russian Federation N 4979-I “On Veterinary Medicine”;
GOST R 56391-2015 “Services for non-productive animals. Keeping unproductive animals in urban environments,”
Order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation No. 473 “On approval of the standard regulations on state zoological parks.”

Development of amendments to the law

The public does not want to put up with a loyal attitude towards cruelty and irresponsibility. At this time, there are active discussions in various layers of society about new amendments to Article 245. Adults, by mocking their “lesser brothers,” create a negative example for the younger generation , and this is also a great danger.

Among the amendments that can be made to articles for baiting or killing animals is punishment for broadcasting sadistic acts against dogs and cats via the Internet. The elements of this crime are quite serious, since the video can be shown in front of a child.
Help in toughening the punishment for torturing a person over an animal can be provided by a petition on the government website. Its active signing will speed up the adoption of amendments.

Among the new proposals from the public and party structures are the introduction of criminal liability for involving dogs in brutal fights without rules, the introduction of fair punishment for pitting animals, and an increase in the fine for torture and killing of pets.

If the criminal is found to be guilty of injuring an animal, he, as one of the new and promising bills proposes, must pay for treatment and rehabilitation. It is especially necessary to punish those individuals who have repeatedly tortured or poisoned dogs, cats, and other representatives of the fauna.

IMPORTANT! Voting for new bills and amendments that significantly increase liability for crimes against wildlife should be the work of all concerned citizens. Cruelty towards a dog, for example, can soon develop into cruelty towards a defenseless child or adult.

Contagious sadism

Experts interviewed by Profile agree that speed in blocking animal abuse content is key. Otherwise, it spreads across the Internet. “Given the rapid spread of shocking content, extrajudicial blocking of such resources seems logical,” says Mikhail Khokholkov, leading lawyer at the INTELLECT law firm. In addition to those who make money from “brutal” content, there are also those who derive pleasure not only from abusing animals, but also from shocking others. In this regard, blocking videos of animal abuse is useful, animal rights activists and psychologists admit.

“People who want others to see all their ugliness find themselves cut off from society. They don’t achieve their goal,” says forensic psychiatrist Mikhail Vinogradov.

The president of the Vita animal rights center, Irina Novozhilova, recalls that if earlier someone in the yard tried to force others to look at the abuse of animals, now it has migrated to the Internet. “They want as many people as possible to experience these terrible emotions. Apparently, they feel special pleasure from this,” she says.

According to Mikhail Vinogradov, those who abuse animals are sadists. They cannot oppose themselves to society from any aggressive positions and take out their inferiority through animals that cannot respond to them in the same way. They assert themselves through the weak, he believes.

People's reaction to bullying videos depends on their personality structure, explains Mikhail Vinogradov. For the majority, it causes a negative reaction, indignation, and a desire to stop the process. “But there are people who take on board, try to repeat and even surpass the sadist,” he says. According to him, the reaction does not depend on the person’s age, but depends on the individual, the family, and the family’s attitude towards such things.

The development of the Internet has revealed unpleasant statistics: it turns out that a lot of seemingly normal people enjoy scenes of violence against animals and other abominations

Shutterstock/Fotodom

Is administrative punishment possible for crimes against animals?

Administrative responsibility for cruelty towards representatives of fauna is considered at the level of regional legislation in different regions of Russia. Administrative offenses include those crimes against animals that result in injury, disfigurement, or death.

This is how this issue is considered, for example, in St. Petersburg. The criminal against whom the application was filed is subject to a fine of up to 5,000 rubles. If the investigation shows that the baiting of animals was carried out by a legal entity, it is ordered to pay a fine of up to 100,000 rubles.

In the country of Russia, each region has its own law defining administrative punishment for cruelty and irresponsibility towards pets and other animals . Therefore, if such illegal actions are committed by adults or minors, it is imperative to contact the responsible authorities to punish the perpetrator.

Don't overdo it

Lawyers also draw attention to another problem of extrajudicial blocking, which came to light earlier. Site owners often learn about content claims when access to their resource is already limited. “We often encounter cases of sites being blocked based solely on the decision of the prosecutor’s office. The site owner learns about blocking after the fact, when information about the domain is already included in the Unified Register of Domain Names with prohibited information, and telecom operators and providers are already limiting access to the resource,” says Mikhail Khokholkov.

Challenging a block takes a long time, during which time the site owner may lose his entire audience. “There is no established practice for collecting damages associated with illegal blocking of sites. This, in turn, does not in any way motivate the authorized bodies to evaluate the information comprehensively, taking into account its context and purpose of placement,” says the lawyer. The proposed instrument could be balanced by rules on the possibility of judicial compensation for losses in case of illegal blocking, believes Mikhail Khokholkov.

But so far the bill has not yet been considered even in the first reading.

How should witnesses to bullying act?

It is unpleasant to witness someone poisoning a dog, maiming a cat for the sake of laughter, or mocking another animal. Such a picture can cause stress in an adult, and it can have even more serious consequences for a child. Where to turn in this case.

ATTENTION! Punishment for these illegal and immoral actions is provided for in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation only by Article 245. Unfortunately, it does not clearly define the elements of the crime and its punishment.

Often the decision on whether a flayer is entitled to a fine or prison is made by the court. But in any case, you should complain about such a person. His actions are inhumane, cruel, and may have even more terrible consequences.

The first authority where you can go to file a police complaint is the internal affairs bodies. But they will definitely require proof of a crime. Therefore, you should record witness testimony or film the incident . There is also the Animal Welfare Society and other similar organizations that fight flayers.

Where to go

Witnesses of crimes against representatives of nature must determine which category such an act belongs to:

in cases where the offense falls under the category of ill-treatment and entails criminal penalties, law enforcement agencies are authorized to deal with such incidents;
Violations of Federal Law No. 498 on keeping animals and responsible treatment of them must be suppressed by state supervisory authorities, in accordance with Article 19 of this document. These include the veterinary supervision service, which is part of Rosselkhoznadzor, as well as the bodies of Rosprirodnadzor.

Please note: in every city there are animal protection societies, whose contacts can be found on the Internet or social networks.
They can tell you where to go and help you file a complaint. To attract public attention, you can contact the media. This becomes especially relevant when a statement about violation of animal rights is ignored by authorized bodies.

Police

Law enforcement agencies are required to accept a report of a crime regardless of the place and time of its commission. A crime report can be submitted to any police department or local police officer, however, in order to speed up the review process, it is better to submit it to the duty station at the place where the crime was committed.

However, it is worth keeping in mind that in cases of violation of animal rights, statements are reluctantly accepted, and criminal cases are extremely rarely initiated. Therefore, the applicant must be determined and not succumb to the duty officer’s arguments about insufficient data or lack of evidence. It must be remembered that a representative of law enforcement agencies is obliged to accept a statement about a crime committed or being prepared and take all measures to solve or prevent it (Article 12 of the Law “On the Police”).

Sample application

Can be done in writing or orally, in accordance with Article 141 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. If it is done orally, the officer on duty must draw up a protocol, which the applicant then signs if he agrees with what is stated. The written statement is drawn up according to the following structure:

the addressee is indicated in the header of the document: full name, position and title of the head of the department;
applicant details: full name, registration address, contact phone number;
the essence of what happened: events indicating date, place and time, in chronological order, without emotional descriptions, only facts;
requirements: initiate a criminal case under Article 245 of the Russian Federation against the specified person, or establish the identity of the offender and bring him to justice;
indicate that the applicant is aware of liability for false denunciation in accordance with Article 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
list of supplied materials (for example, photo or video);
signature, date;
if there are witnesses, they write at the end of the statement “I, full name, fully confirm the above” and put their signatures.

Important: An anonymous application will not be accepted, so the identity of the applicant must always be identified.

The document is registered in the journal and is assigned a number by which you can track the progress of the review. Within 3 days from the date of registration, a decision is made to initiate a criminal case or refuse. If a case is initiated, the investigator in this case is obliged to inform the applicant about the progress of the investigation at least once a month. The preliminary investigation must be carried out within 2 months (Article 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation). Based on its results, if the accused (suspect) is detained, a court hearing is scheduled, where the judge makes a decision on his guilt or innocence.

Read more: How to write a complaint to the Police

Supervisory authorities

If an offense against animals is not classified as criminal, its suppression is within the powers of the supervisory authorities defined in Article 19 of Federal Law No. 498. You should also seek their help if law enforcement officials still refuse to accept the application. The following departments are authorized to control this area of legal relations:

Rosprirodnadzor protects both flora and fauna. You can send an electronic appeal on the website of the main department rpn.gov.ru/appeal, or you can select a regional unit in the window above, where contacts (addresses and telephone numbers) will be indicated in the field on the left.
Rosselkhoznadzor - its division is the Federal Veterinary Surveillance Service, which is responsible for monitoring domestic and stray animals. In the electronic reception on the department’s website www.fsvps.ru/fsvps/ereception you can send a complaint or ask a question.
Ministry of Culture - if offenses are committed by a petting zoo and other similar establishments, you can also send a complaint to the territorial department of the Ministry of Culture, since it is authorized to control the cultural and entertainment sector.
Rospotrebnadzor and housing inspection - these authorities should be contacted if the complaint concerns the conditions of keeping animals in city apartments, which violates standards and disturbs neighbors. An electronic appeal can be submitted to the address of the central division rospotrebnadzor.ru/feedback/hotline2.php, but for speedy consideration it is better to send it to the territorial division.

We recommend reading:

How to write a complaint to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
How to write a complaint to Rospotrebnadzor
How to write a complaint to the Housing Inspectorate

How to file a complaint

A complaint about violation of animal rights is drawn up in any form, in compliance with the rules of official appeals. The following information must be provided:

name of the organization, full name of the head,
Full name, address of the applicant, telephone number,
the essence of the appeal, indicating the dates and facts of the offense with references to laws,
attached documents (evidence materials),
date, signature.

Sample complaint to Rosprirodnadzor about cruelty to animals

The document is sent by registered mail with notification, or delivered in person to the department office. The response must be sent within 30 days, and if additional time is required to conduct an investigation or examination, the applicant is notified of this.