Administrative liability for beatings is provided for by current legislation. Also, for acts of this nature, an individual may incur criminal liability. About four months ago I was beaten several times, and the perpetrator was punished under Article 6.1.1 of the current Code of Administrative Offences.
I immediately became interested in what form of punishment awaited the offender, and also why he nevertheless suffered administrative rather than criminal liability. In this article I want to talk about what awaits criminals if convicted under Article No. 6.1.1 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offences, as well as what penalties are provided in situations where criminal liability is imposed for the same offense.
Commentary on Article 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. According to part 1 comment. Articles of the criminal legislation of the Russian Federation consist of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It should be emphasized the fundamental provision of the law that newly adopted laws providing for the criminal conduct of persons are subject to inclusion in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Without compliance with this condition, the TOS cannot be applied.
1.1. New laws establishing the MA, in accordance with paragraph “o” of Art. 71 of the Constitution can only be adopted by the federal legislator. 2. Part 2 of the commented Article 1 of the Criminal Code establishes that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is based on the Constitution, which has direct effect (Part 1 of Article 15). If a norm of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contradicts a constitutional norm, the latter shall be applied. This practice took place during the period of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of the RSFSR, but is not excluded in the future.
2.1. The procedure for recognizing a norm of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as inconsistent with the Constitution is determined by the Federal Code of Law dated July 21, 1994 No. 1-FKZ “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” (as amended on April 5, 2005) <1>. See also Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 1995 No. 8.
——————————— <1> NW RF. 1994. N 13. Art. 1447; 2001. N 7. Art. 607, N 51. Art. 4824; 2004. N 24. Art. 2334; 2005. N 15. Art. 1273.
However, neither the Constitution nor any other law, except for the Criminal Code, can directly formulate rules on the management of persons. According to current legislation, establishing the criminality and punishability of an act is a function exclusively of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If norms establishing the Criminal Code appear in any other legally adopted normative acts, they are subject to application only after they are included in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
3. It should be borne in mind that Part 4 of Art. 15 of the Constitution names generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation as sources of law. It directly stipulates that if an international treaty of the Russian Federation establishes rules other than those contained in the law, then the rules of the international treaty apply, for example, the issue of the admissibility of taking into account in criminal cases previous convictions in other states - former republics of the USSR was resolved in the Minsk Convention of 1993. In This document states that the courts of the contracting countries take into account the mitigating and aggravating circumstances provided for by their legislation, regardless of the territory of which of the contracting parties they arose. Consequently, for criminal law the provision of paragraph 3 of Art. 5 Federal Law of July 15, 1995 N 101-FZ “On International Treaties of the Russian Federation” <1> that the provisions of officially published international treaties of the Russian Federation, which do not require the publication of domestic acts of application, are directly effective in the Russian Federation.
——————————— <1> NW RF. 1995. N 29. Art. 2757. 3.1. The concept of “generally recognized principles of international law” for Russian criminal law is scientifically and especially practically uncertain; its application in everyday law enforcement activities is difficult. 4. About the contradiction between parts 1 and 2 of the comment. article, see clause 9.2 of the commentary to art. 12 of the Criminal Code.
The Supreme Court of Russia clarified what constitutes interference in the privacy of personal life
MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Interference with personal life becomes a crime if we are talking about information that the citizen himself did not want to make public. This was explained by the plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in the resolution adopted on Tuesday “On some issues of judicial practice in cases of crimes against the constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen (Articles 137, 138, 138.1, 139, 144.1, 145, 145.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).”
“When deciding whether a person’s actions contain the elements of a crime provided for in Part 1 or 2 of Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of privacy”), the court must establish whether it was his intent that information about the private life of a citizen is kept secret,” - explained the plenum.
At the same time, the collection or dissemination of such information in state, public or other public interests cannot entail criminal liability, “as well as in cases where information about the private life of a citizen previously became publicly available or was made public by the citizen himself or at his will.”
The collection of information about the private life of a person, the Supreme Court explained, “understands deliberate actions consisting of obtaining this information in any way, for example, through personal observation, listening, interviewing other persons, including recording information by audio, video, photographic means, copying documented information, as well as by stealing or otherwise acquiring it.”
Dissemination of information about a person’s private life consists of communicating (disclosing) it to one or more persons orally, in writing or in another form and in any way, including via the Internet.
In addition, criminal liability for violating the secrecy of correspondence or telephone conversations (Article 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) arises regardless of the presence of information constituting personal or family secrets.
“Under Article 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, illegal actions that violate the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph or other messages of specific persons or an indefinite number of persons are subject to qualification if they are committed with direct intent. At the same time, liability under this article occurs regardless of whether the information transmitted in correspondence, negotiations, messages constitutes a citizen’s personal or family secret or not,” the plenum explained.
The “other messages” provided for in Article 138 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation include SMS and mms messages, fax messages, instant messages transmitted via the Internet, emails, video calls, as well as messages sent by other means. “When considering criminal cases of a crime under this article, courts should keep in mind that the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph or other messages is considered violated when access to correspondence, negotiations, messages is made without the consent of the person whose secret they are constitute, in the absence of legal grounds for limiting the constitutional right of citizens to the privacy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other messages,” the resolution says.
A violation of the secrecy of telephone conversations is also illegal access to information about incoming and outgoing connection signals between subscribers or subscriber devices of communication users (date, time, duration of connections, subscriber numbers, other data allowing to identify subscribers), the plenum emphasized.
Illegal access to the content of correspondence, negotiations, messages may consist of familiarization with the text and (or) materials of correspondence, messages, listening to telephone conversations, audio messages, copying them, recording them using various technical devices, etc.
According to judicial statistics, last year 63 people were convicted under this article in Russia, and 50 people in 2016.
Another comment on Art. 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. The only federal law that is the source of the criminal legal system of Russia is the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. New laws establishing the criminality of an act, its punishability and other criminal legal consequences cannot be applied without including them in the structure of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. An exception to this rule in accordance with Part 3 of Art. 331 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation constitutes wartime legislation.
2. The criminal law has the highest legal force - not a single normative act can contradict the Criminal Code, otherwise the latter will always be in force.
3. The Constitution of the Russian Federation occupies a priority position in relation to the criminal law, since it has supreme legal force and direct effect (Part 1 of Article 15). If a conflict is established between the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the fundamental law of the country, it is necessary to apply the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
4. Generally recognized principles and norms of international law are not, in the strict sense of the word, sources of criminal law; they have a universal rather than criminal law nature, and can be applied when they are included in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Beatings of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
Actions such as battery are crimes, and the individual who committed them should definitely be punished. In current legislation, beatings mean repeated blows, as a result of which visible marks of abuse in the form of wounds, bruises, and the like appear on the body of an individual.
Beatings can be of varying intensity. In some situations, there are only a few scratches on the victim’s body, and sometimes it is quite difficult to regain health after the wrongful actions of the criminal. Depending on the consequences, the offender will receive a milder or the most severe form of punishment.
The current Russian Administrative Code contains article number 6.1.1, which regulates the types of liability for assault.
Article 6.1.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for beatings
This article was approved on the basis of Federal Law No. 326, which came into force on July 3, 2016. In order to fully understand the meaning of article number 6.1.1, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with legislative act number 115, which is part of the Criminal Code. The article for beatings, located in the Administrative Code, states that administrative liability is provided for their commission. In addition, the same applies to violent acts.
However, one very important nuance must be taken into account. An individual can expect administrative punishment only if his actions do not constitute a crime that is subject to liability under Article 115 of the Criminal Code. This legislative act is dedicated to causing minor harm to the health of individuals, and specifically. If the consequences of the beating were more serious, then the offender should also be punished on the basis of the current Criminal Code.
As for the types of administrative penalties, there are several of them. First of all, penalties may be imposed on the convicted person. The article sets a fixed minimum and maximum withholding amount. These are 5,000 and 30,000 rubles. The perpetrator may also be subject to administrative arrest. The arrest is imposed for a minimum of ten days, and for a maximum of fifteen days. And another type of punishment is compulsory work. You will need to work between 60 and 120 hours.
Features of initiating a case
If the health of an individual has been damaged and at the same time he is absolutely sure that the offender will be held accountable under Article No. 115 or No. 116 of the Criminal Code, then the case is initiated on the basis of a statement. The victim must file a lawsuit outlining the relevant complaint and request for an award of liability. In addition, a medical report must be attached to the application. After this, law enforcement officials will conduct investigations and, if the guilt of the individual complained about is confirmed, they will restore justice.
As for the procedure for initiating administrative cases, not only the presence of a statement from the victim can serve as a signal to start. This can also be done if law enforcement agencies receive relevant information from employees of the medical institution where first aid was provided to the victim for beatings. In addition, cases are initiated even on the basis of information disseminated through the media.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that if an individual who has suffered a beating is incapacitated, then a legal representative must submit an application on his behalf and initiate the case.
Article 115 of the Criminal Code
Since Article 6.1.1 of the current Code of Administrative Offenses makes reference to the legislative act of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation numbered 115, it also needs to be studied in detail. The topic of the article is mild harm to people's health, caused intentionally. Minor consequences are those situations in which the health of the victim deteriorated for a short period of time, and the victim’s ability to work was slightly impaired. As a rule, the degree of harm is determined by medical professionals after an examination.
Punishment for beatings can be in the form of a fine, the amount of which is up to 40,000 rubles. Sometimes convicted prisoners are required to transfer their wages to the state budget within three months. A punishment such as compulsory work for a period of up to a maximum of 480 hours is also applied. It is still possible to award corrective labor, but not more than a year. And the last type of punishment is arrest for a period of four months (maximum).
The second paragraph of the article indicates special situations, in the event of which a number of special penalties in a toughened format come into force. The second paragraph states the following points:
- Causes of crime. If, when committing harm to the victim’s health, the offender was guided by special motives, then he will face a tougher form of responsibility. We are talking about hooligan motives, motives associated with racial or national characteristics, as well as religious differences in views. In addition, this also includes political hostility. Another special case is the use of weapons or their analogues.
- Forms of punishment. If one of the above motives has been confirmed, the offender will be subject to mandatory labor, but not more than 360 hours. As for corrective labor, they can be assigned a maximum of one year. Restriction of freedom or forced labor, as well as imprisonment, may last for two whole years. The arrest is imposed for a maximum of six months.
It should be noted that the period of liability is determined depending on the severity of the offense and all the ensuing consequences. The same applies to the type of punishment.
Main conclusions
- For beatings, not only criminal, but also administrative liability can be imposed (Article No. 6.1.1 of the Administrative Code).
- This legislative act comes into force if no corpus delicti under Article No. 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been found.
- Administrative penalties include fines, compulsory labor, and administrative arrest.
- Administrative cases are initiated quite easily. The signal can be not only a statement from the victim, but also a message about the incident from the clinic workers and the like.
