Is a citizen obligated to report a crime and responsibility for failure to report?

ST 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Failure to report to the authorities authorized to consider reports of a crime about a person (persons) who, according to reliable information, is preparing, committing or has committed at least one of the crimes provided for in Articles 205, 205.1, 205.2, 205.3, 205.4, 205.5, 206, 208 , 211, 220, 221, 277, 278, 279, 360 and 361 of this Code, -

shall be punishable by a fine in the amount of up to one hundred thousand rubles, or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to six months, or by forced labor for a term of up to one year, or by imprisonment for the same term.

Note. A person is not subject to criminal liability for failure to report the preparation or commission of a crime by his spouse or close relative.

Background

The history of responsibility for “failure to report a criminal” has its roots in ancient times. In particular, the rule on liability for failure to report heard malicious intent “against the king or the prince” was already in the Charter of Yaroslav (12th century). Subsequently, responsibility “for failure to inform on a criminal” migrated from ancient legal sources to modern codes and laws. Criminal punishment for failure to report existed both in pre-revolutionary Russia and during the existence of the USSR.

In Soviet criminal legislation, this type of liability concerned only failure to report the most serious crimes.

In the Criminal Code of Russia of 1996, criminal liability for failure to report a crime was completely excluded and returned to legislation only in 2016, with the introduction of Article 205.6 into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which we will talk about later.

By the way, criminal liability for failure to report a crime is also typical for many foreign legal systems.

Legal education: is there a duty to report a crime?

April 28, 2020

Is there a duty to report crime?

Surely, each of us during our lives at least once witnessed the commission of some unseemly act on the part of other persons, which could well attract an article of the Criminal Code. Have you asked yourself the question: am I obliged to report what I saw to law enforcement agencies or not?

Is there a legal duty for a citizen to report a crime to the police? Let's try to figure it out.

History of the issue.

In Soviet criminal legislation, this type of liability concerned only failure to report the most serious crimes.

By the way, criminal liability for failure to report a crime is also typical for many foreign legal systems.

What crimes is a citizen required to report to the police?

In accordance with the law, criminal liability under Article 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for failure to report a crime is established only in relation to a number of acts that have a high degree of public danger, mainly of a terrorist nature. An exhaustive list of these crimes is listed in Article 205.6 of the Criminal Code and now we will name them.

A citizen will bear criminal liability if he does not report reliably known facts of committed or impending crimes of the following categories:

Terrorism and related acts (assistance, calls for terrorism, etc.)

• Hostage taking

• Organization of an illegal armed group

• Theft of an aircraft, water vessel or railway transport

• Illegal actions with nuclear and radioactive materials

• Encroachment on the life of a state or public figure

• Violent seizure of power

• Armed rebellion

• Attack on diplomatic missions

• International terrorism

But if a citizen saw that, for example, a theft or sale of drugs was taking place somewhere and did not report it to the police, he will not bear any responsibility for this. And even for failure to report a murder, the law does not establish any sanctions.

This is important: in any case, a citizen cannot be held accountable for failure to report a crime if it is committed or is being prepared by his close relative. It will also not be possible to hold a lawyer accountable if he became aware of the crime committed in connection with the defense of the accused, even if we are talking about a new crime

Also, failure to report to the police about facts that, for one reason or another, raise certain doubts in a citizen is not punishable. Only failure to report such circumstances that are reliably and unambiguously a crime and the citizen clearly understands this is criminally punishable. The responsibility to prove that the citizen reliably knew about the crime, but did not make a report to the police, lies with the investigative authorities.

You should also understand the difference between failure to report and concealment of crimes. In the first case, criminal liability arises under Art. 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation simply means the very fact of keeping silent about the crime, and in the second (Article 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - only in the case of active concealment of especially serious crimes not promised in advance (for example, when assisting a murderer in transporting and hiding a corpse, in the absence of signs of complicity in the murder itself).

Responsibility for failure to report a crime.

As we have already mentioned, criminal liability for failure to report criminal actions of third parties is provided for in Article 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The sanction of this article provides for the following types of punishment:

Fine of up to 100,000 rubles;
Forced labor for up to 1 year;
Imprisonment for up to 1 year;

At the same time, it should be borne in mind that such a punishment as imprisonment under this article can be imposed only if the perpetrator has an outstanding criminal record or aggravating circumstances, the list of which is specified in Article 63 of the Criminal Code of Russia.

By the way, contrary to popular belief, there is no administrative liability for ignoring a citizen’s duty to report a crime to the police. There is only criminal law, but we have already talked about this above.

The age of criminal responsibility under Art. 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation begins at the age of 16.

Commentary to Art. 205.6 of the Criminal Code

1. The objective side of the crime is characterized by failure to report to the authorities authorized to consider reports of a crime about a person (persons) who, according to reliably known information, is preparing, committing or has committed at least one of the crimes specified in the disposition. Failure to report is a silence about a fact when there is a real opportunity to fulfill a person’s moral duty. In this case, the person must be aware of the preparation, attempt or commission by another person of one of the crimes specified in the disposition. Whether the failure to report was promised in advance or not is irrelevant for criminal prosecution.

The authorities authorized to consider reports of crimes are the prosecutor's office, internal affairs, federal security service and other bodies specified in Art. 151 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

2. The legislation does not specify the period after which a person must make a corresponding report to the authorities. A possible interpretation of the criminal law suggests that this should be sufficient time for reporting. By a very rough analogy of law, we can assume that this period is equal to one week (see paragraph 2 of Article 314 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), however, it is preferable to consider this norm, which does not specify the period for fulfilling the obligation as an integral condition for bringing to criminal responsibility, as unconstitutional on this basis basis. In any case, by virtue of paragraph “a” of Part 1 of Art. 78 of the Criminal Code, a person cannot be held criminally liable for failure to report a crime about which he became aware more than two years ago.

3. By virtue of the note to the article, spouses or close relatives of the person preparing or committing the corresponding crime are not subjects of the crime. Clergymen also cannot be considered as subjects of this crime if they are informed about a crime during confession (clause 7 of Article 3 of the Federal Law of September 26, 1997 N 125-FZ “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”) and lawyers, if the relevant circumstances became known to them in connection with applying for legal assistance or in connection with its provision (clause 2 of article 8 of the Federal Law of May 31, 2002 N 63-FZ “On advocacy and the legal profession in the Russian Federation”).

The criminality of an act can also be eliminated by Art. 40 of the Criminal Code (see commentary to this norm).

4. A person who acted as an accomplice in one of the crimes specified in the disposition or was involved in it and is brought to criminal liability under Art. 174 - 175, 316 CC.

How to file a crime report?

This material has been prepared on the basis of the norms of the current legislation of Russia, taking into account established judicial practice. If you encounter any difficulties when writing an application, you can contact the Domkins and Partners Law Office and use legal advice. Such assistance is provided to Principals, including remotely.

There are different life situations and in the modern world it is not at all uncommon for a citizen or legal entity to need to contact law enforcement agencies regarding the initiation of a criminal case.

Of course, before filing a corresponding application, it would be correct to obtain legal advice from a practitioner in the field of criminal law or delegate to him the authority to protect your interests, but various everyday circumstances sometimes force you to protect your interests on your own.

Using the material below, you can independently write or draw up a statement (appeal) to the police or other law enforcement agencies.

The criminal procedure law does not impose clear and mandatory requirements for a written statement of a crime to law enforcement agencies.

Moreover, Article 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation states that a statement about a crime can also be made orally. It should be noted that this form of appeal in most cases is used when a citizen reports a crime committed “in hot pursuit,” that is, by calling the emergency services call line or contacting the first police officer.

The current law does not prevent a citizen from personally contacting the police department and verbally reporting a crime. In this case, the statement of crime is entered by a law enforcement officer into the appropriate protocol, which is signed by the applicant himself and the officer who accepted the statement.

Sample statement of crime

To be fair, it is worth noting that this form of registration of an application is used extremely rarely in practice, and most often the applicant is asked to submit an application in writing.

So, in front of you is a blank sheet of paper:

It is advisable that you initially, independently or with the help of a criminal lawyer, give the correct preliminary qualification of the crime committed. Such qualifications will allow you to ensure fast and smooth movement and consideration of your application. The classification of a crime is established on the basis of the norms of a special part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which lists all criminal offenses. After reviewing the specified law, you can determine which article the crime you are reporting falls under and immediately indicate this in your application. For a person who does not have legal knowledge, the issue of qualifications may cause difficulties. In this case, it is recommended that the text of the application simply indicate what exactly happened: theft of property, beating, damage to property, etc.

To illustrate the above, we will accompany the presented material with a simulated example.

For example, in the evening, secretly, that is, under unknown circumstances, a lady’s bag with personal belongings and a sum of money in the amount of 10,000 rubles was stolen in a restaurant from citizen A. Since we are dealing with a secret theft, that is, Ms. A. did not observe the act itself, this crime should be qualified under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - theft. Due to the fact that the stolen bag was expensive, and the amount of money was 30 percent of Ms. A.’s monthly salary, the crime caused her significant damage. In this case, the unlawful act is subject to qualification under Part 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - theft causing significant damage. This is the qualification that should be reflected in the application.

Establishing the classification of a crime, that is, indicating the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, will allow you to easily determine which law enforcement agency should file a statement about the crime. In accordance with the current law, you can contact any law enforcement agency: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor's Office, the Federal Security Service, etc. If your statement about a crime does not fall within the competence of this law enforcement agency, it will independently forward the statement to the authorized agency. Let us note that an error when filing an application to an unauthorized body, as a rule, entails a delay in the process of considering a crime report due to the length of interdepartmental redirection of correspondence. You can establish the investigative jurisdiction of the crime you are reporting by referring to the contents of Article 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, by which the law assigns to each law enforcement agency a list of crimes that it is obliged to investigate.

Regarding our example, we can establish the following - In accordance with Article 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the crime provided for in Part 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation falls under the jurisdiction of investigators of internal affairs bodies. Accordingly, a crime should be reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (police).

Having determined the investigative jurisdiction of the crime, the citizen, in order to quickly consider his application, is also recommended to determine the so-called territorial jurisdiction of the crime, that is, to which specific territorial unit he should submit the application. According to the rule established by law (Article 152 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation), the investigation of a crime is carried out at the place where it was committed.

The example under consideration is the restaurant in which the theft of property of citizen A. occurred is located on the territory of the Moskovsky district of the city N., accordingly, a statement of crime should be submitted to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (OMVD) of the Moskovsky district of the city N.

Having determined the article of the criminal law, jurisdiction and territorial division of the law enforcement agency, one should begin to draw up the statement of the crime itself. In the header of the application you should indicate to whose name you are addressing the application. The authorized person in this case is the head or head of the law enforcement agency. You can find out information about who heads a particular body by calling the department or by accessing the Internet. If the specified information is not available to you, you can limit yourself to indicating the official position of the commanding officer.

The example under consideration is that Gr-ka A. must reflect the following in the “header” of the application: “To the head of the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation of the Moskovsky district of the city of N., police colonel P.P. Petrov.

After indicating the authorized person, you should reflect your own data, indicating your last name, first name, patronymic, registration address, place of actual residence, as well as your contact (mobile) phone number. Do not forget that the successful investigation of the case depends to a certain extent on you. The investigator or detective will need to contact you and obtain more detailed information for further investigation.
After the “header” in the center of the sheet, you indicate the name of your appeal, namely, Statement of a Crime.
In the main (descriptive) part of the application, you should briefly state what happened and why you are contacting law enforcement agencies. It is mandatory to indicate:
when the crime occurred (date, time);
time of events (if you find it difficult to indicate the time, you can indicate the approximate time, as well as the date);
place of the crime (where the act occurred);
the culprit of the crime, if he is known to you (if you have only partial information about the person, you can indicate that the person who committed the crime is known to you, for example, as an acquaintance named “Andrey”);
what exactly happened (free description of the events that took place);
whose legitimate interests were harmed and in what form (how the damage and/or harm was caused);
what article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for liability for the crime committed;
reflect other data that is significant in the case.

You should not describe what happened down to the smallest detail. The statement must be sufficiently concise, but at the same time informative, so that the authorized person can obtain from it sufficient information to begin an investigation.

Sample statement of fraud

In the final part of the application, we recommend that you reflect that you are aware of criminal liability for committing a knowingly false denunciation of a crime, that is, that if you report a non-existent crime, then criminal liability may arise for such an act. In the absence of such a record, authorized persons will ask you to draw up an additional document - a receipt indicating liability for knowingly making a false denunciation.
As additional material to the crime report, you can attach copies of documents that may be required during the initial investigation: audio and video recordings, financial documents, checks. You can also indicate in the text of the statement who was an eyewitness to the crime, indicating his personal data and methods of contact with this person.
As required by law, the application is signed personally by the person affected by the crime. If we are talking about a minor victim or a person with limited legal capacity, the application is signed by a legal representative. The application must be dated.

Guided by the outlined legal algorithm, you can independently draw up a statement about the crime committed.

Lawyer Pavel Domkin