What is the criminal penalty for hiding a corpse?

Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation implies punishment for unintentional concealment of a crime. The description of this legislative act suggests that the application of this article is possible provided that this crime was committed in a scenario where a person could not know about the crime committed, but help hide it, or be notified, but actively help with his actions, being introduced misleading, or the person could help completely consciously, but at the same time he did not wish harm to the victim of the offense.

Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Every day from 9.00 to 21.00

Moscow and region: +7 (495) 662-44-36

St. Petersburg: +7 (812) 449-43-40

Features of the act

Due to the fact that, despite the many ways to hide a crime, the Criminal Code provides only one article for such actions, in practice many controversial situations arise.

What does Article 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation say about concealing a crime?

This provision of the law punishes unplanned concealment of especially serious crimes. However, the punishment does not apply to close relatives of the offender.

An important qualification criterion is active actions to hide evidence or the criminal. If the actions are not recognized as such, then liability under Article 316 will not be assigned.

Since this provision of the Criminal Code includes the concept of “particularly serious crimes,” the circle is narrowed only to those violations of the law for which criminal law prescribes a punishment of at least 10 years in prison.

There is also a nuance associated with the concept of concealing a crime. This concept is not given in Article 316, so lawyers refer to the commentary to Part 5 of Article 33 of the Criminal Code on complicity in the commission of a crime, namely the promise to hide the criminal, traces or things obtained by him during the crime. The difference between this interpretation and Article 316 is that it talks about planned (promised) concealment, while Article 316 talks about unplanned ones. But in practice, these articles are often used together.

Concealment of a crime: liability under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Very often, investigative authorities are faced with a problem when it is not possible to solve a crime without delay due to the fact that the crime is being covered up.

In this case, sooner or later the criminal will still end up behind bars, but he will have plenty of time to commit another offense. In practice, investigative authorities are faced with a huge number of sophisticated methods that help a criminal temporarily avoid punishment.

But we must always remember that in the Criminal Code there is a separate article on this matter, which entails another punishment.

Naturally, the court will consider all the facts of concealing the crime, so it will take into account what nature of the crime was committed.

If the crime is of a light nature, for example, it could be forging a signature on documents, then the offender can get off with a simple fine; in more complex situations, he may face imprisonment for up to two years. Let's try to understand all this in detail.

What is the point of the article?

Concealing a criminal offense indicates a whole list of measures that can be applied to the person who committed the offense. The concealment of a crime may be planned, for example, when it was discussed in advance even before the commission of such a crime.

Also, the concealment may be unplanned. It is also necessary to take into account the fact that punishment under the law does not apply to close relatives.

When such a concept as a particularly serious crime is used, the offender can be imprisoned for at least ten years.

It would be wrong to assume that concealment of a crime occurs only if the criminal himself is helped to hide the objects with which the crime was committed. Giving false testimony in court may also be considered a cover-up.

It should also be noted that concealment of crimes that are of a minor or moderate nature may be considered not illegal, which means that the person will not bear either criminal or administrative liability.

Basically, especially serious crimes can be punished, which is why there is a tendency for crime to increase at the business level.

Who can be the subject of a crime

Responsibility for concealing a crime begins at the age of 16. But there is an amendment to the law that clearly states that people who are relatives of the criminal are not punished for concealment.

The fact is that this is contrary to all norms and rights, because not every person can extradite their loved one, even if he is a criminal. But we must also remember that there is such a thing as civic duty.

Relatives who cannot be held responsible for concealment include:

Parents of the criminal.
His own children and grandchildren.
Elderly relatives, such as grandparents.
Legal spouses. It is important that the spouses are registered with the registry office, because the cohabitant will be fully accountable to the law.

What exactly is a cover-up?

Concealing a crime is a special act that is aimed at hiding the criminal, providing him with shelter, also helping to make fake documents, and changing his appearance. What punishment the party who committed these illegal actions will bear will be decided solely by the court.

As a rule, this can be a fine of two hundred thousand rubles, or the offender can be arrested for up to two years. The type of punishment is determined only when the fact of involvement in a given crime is confirmed, and also depending on what kind of crime was hidden from investigators.

Concealing a crime can be considered committed in different ways in different cases.

The fact is that if it is necessary to conceal something that was acquired illegally, for example, a weapon, or if its storage is revealed, then the concealment of a crime is a fact from the very minute when the second person became aware of it.

The law takes into account only those actions that were completed, even if they were to some extent incomplete. For example, even if the criminal did not fully achieve the goal of his crime, he will still be punished.

The main intent when concealing a crime: how is this taken into account in court?

The court may take into account such moments when the concealer consciously committed a crime.

Let's say the investigation proves that the person knew perfectly well that he was hiding a murder that was completely careless.

If in fact it was committed premeditatedly, then the accused may not be held criminally liable: after all, his intentions were not to hide the real murder.

What are the goals of the concealer?

The purpose of concealing a crime can be different. Naturally, the first priority is the desire to hide illegal acts from justice. Investigators may also regard such steps as obstruction of the investigation and the authorities of justice.

Criminals often have their own selfish motives as motives. For example, people can be motivated by feelings of love, sometimes the motive can be the intimidation of a person by a criminal.

Of course, motives are not part of the crime, but it should be noted that they are taken into account when punishment is imposed.

Concealing a crime through intellectual and physical actions

Concealing traces of a crime can be accomplished both physically and through intellectual actions.

Most often, an example for highlighting such a concealment is self-incrimination or giving false testimony in favor of the accused, in order to divert suspicion from the real criminal.

In this case, justice may follow the wrong trail, and the criminal himself may escape at this time. Also, advice on how best to hide, how to properly hide a weapon or get rid of the body of a murdered person can also act as intellectual activity.

Concealment is also considered to be hiding traces of a crime, for example, when a pedestrian was hit and a car was damaged. To prevent the investigation from finding the criminal, the car was repaired by a second person or the car was set on fire.

What is not considered concealment of a crime

It should be noted that concealment, which is punishable by law, is considered to be concealing the facts of a crime, which really complicates the investigation.

But insignificant assistance to a criminal, which did not pursue any goals of misleading the investigation, cannot be considered concealment. For example, a person may know about a crime committed, but not report it to the relevant authorities.

But in some cases, a special article of the Criminal Code on failure to report may still apply to such persons.

Difficulties for the investigation that may be caused by concealing a criminal

Considering in detail this concept - concealment of a crime (Article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation No. 316), one should pay attention to the fact that the article has many nuances. It is important to remember the distinction between types of concealment. For example, they try to hide a wanted item because it was obtained through criminal means.

The investigation's decision regarding the concealer will depend on how exactly the item was acquired. In this case, this fact can be considered as direct intent, because the concealer is aware of the nature of the crime, and on the other hand, the crime may be unsolved.

In any case, the court will take into account the goals pursued by the concealer.

The subject of the crime and persons who cannot be him

Any capable citizen at least 16 years of age can be punished for concealing a crime. But there is an exception - close relatives of the criminal. They cannot be punished, since the law does not oblige relatives to testify against each other. But at the same time, all citizens of the country must obey the law. This contradiction was resolved with the help of this exception in Article 316.

It is important to consider that the list of close relatives is strictly defined. These include children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and spouses. In this case, the spouses must live in an official marriage. Cohabitants will not be released from liability for concealing a crime. Although among lawyers there are many supporters of the equation of cohabitants and spouses in this context.

Who can escape punishment?

When considering the article on concealment of a crime, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation clearly determines who falls under the scope of this article and who may not be subject to jurisdiction. Typically, the criminal code of the Russian Federation applies to citizens who have reached the age of criminal responsibility.

This article has a number of exceptions, namely:

If the person is under 16 years of age.
If the person is a close relative of the criminal.
If a person is mentally ill and medicine confirms this fact.

These exceptions are the grounds on which the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will not prosecute them for concealing a crime.

The age of responsibility was established by the legislator and for this type of offense the age is higher than usual. If the concealment of the crime occurred due to the fact that the person is a close relative, for example, a husband or wife, then Art. 51 of the RF IC allows people not to testify against a suspect.

Therefore, even if the fact of deliberate concealment is proven in relation to another person, he cannot be judged, in view of the RF IC. Moreover, if a person was previously a relative, and then there was a change in this status, then Article 51 will not apply to him, which means he will have to testify and talk about the name of the criminal. At the same time, the footnote to the article states that, unlike a registered marriage, if there is sufficient evidence, a common-law wife or husband cannot testify against each other.

If a person is mentally ill, then his altered consciousness must be assessed by a medical professional or service consultant who has the right to conduct such examinations. Typically, such people are in boarding schools, schools or hospitals of the corresponding type and therefore may not realize that they are complicit in aiding the perpetrator of another offense, since they do not evaluate this moment as a competent person.

Special measures of responsibility, consisting of compulsory treatment, should be applied to incompetent and mentally ill criminals.

It is worth noting that sometimes a witness to a crime is mute. In fact, he cannot inform the police about any fact of concealment of information or a crime committed, since he has a physical disability.

In this case, he can provide information in any way.

Legal norms

What was said earlier shows that there are many nuances in the qualification of concealing crimes:

Absence of any responsibility for concealing serious and medium-sized crimes.
No separate punishment for concealing crimes by investigators. In practice, Article 286 – abuse of official powers – is applied to them. But this is still a completely different qualification of their actions.
The difficulty of distinguishing between the concepts of complicity and concealment. To do this, you need to accurately prove the fact of preliminary conspiracy, or its absence, which is not always possible.

In addition, active actions to conceal a crime fall under Article 316 of the Criminal Code. If a person simply did not report a crime, then his actions cannot be qualified under this article.

In addition to Article 316, amendments were made to the Criminal Code as part of the “Yarovaya package”. One of the rules was Article 205.6 “Failure to report a crime.” The essence of this article is that it is enough not to report crimes classified under Articles 205, 205.1, 205.2, 205.3, 205.4, 205.5, 206, 208, 211, 220, 221, 277, 278, 279, 360 and 361 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The article is mainly intended to tighten responsibility for aiding terrorists. But it is not yet entirely clear how it will be applied in practice.

Have a question for a lawyer? Ask now, call and get a free consultation from leading lawyers in your city. We will answer your questions quickly and try to help with your specific case.

Telephone in Moscow and the Moscow region: +7

Phone in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region: +7

Free hotline throughout Russia: 88006003901

Actions to cover up a murder

Here it is appropriate to quote a statement from a well-known specialist in murder investigation methods, G.N. Mudyugin: “The choice of a specific method for committing and concealing a murder by criminals is usually influenced only by the connection with the victim, which is direct and close enough, is of an everyday, in particular personal nature, is known others, which the criminal knows about.”

This statement suggests that there is a personal connection (conflict or non-conflict) between the victim and the criminal; this, to a certain extent, predetermines not only the method of committing the crime, but also the measures that the criminal takes to conceal the crime.

If the criminal resorts to actions to hide the victim’s corpse (burying, drowning, etc.), then these actions most often indicate the special nature of the relationship between the victim and the criminal. That is, when the criminal is not interested in establishing the identity of the deceased by law enforcement agencies, we can conclude that the very fact of discovering the corpse of a particular person provides law enforcement agencies with relevant information that can be used to incriminate the criminal of the murder committed.

There is another way to hide traces of a crime - dismemberment of the corpse. Here, too, there is usually a connection between the criminal and the victim. But this connection can be one-time (simultaneous) in nature, i.e. murder of a random drinking companion, a random lover, etc. In this case, from the killer's point of view, disposal of the victim's corpse is a necessary condition for the murder not to be solved. To solve such a crime, if the identity of the murdered person is nevertheless established, the investigator needs to literally reconstruct minute by minute the last days of the crime victim’s life.

Characteristics of secret non-obvious closed murders (without eyewitnesses)

1. Murder without disguise (killed, abandoned, ran away, left a corpse). In contract killings, weapons are usually left behind, because the killers are killed by professionals who know that if the weapon is not immediately thrown away, it can then provide a chain of evidence that will help law enforcement agencies find the criminal and prove his guilt.

2. Staged murder. Staging is essentially an act of concealing a crime. There are dramatizations of suicide, accident, sudden death. The staging is carried out to mislead the investigation. The very fact that investigators discovered the staging most often indicates that the murder was committed by someone close to the victim. The killer understands that the very fact of killing a specific person gives grounds to suspect him, so he resorts to staging.

3. Murder with clever attempts to hide the identity of the victim. These are: dismemberment of the head, destruction of the head, dismemberment of the corpse, disfigurement of the face. All this is done to ensure that law enforcement agencies are unable to determine the identity of the murdered person and thus cannot identify the killer.

4. A murder investigated in the absence of a victim's corpse. It is very difficult to prove such a murder.

Well-known criminologists L.G. Vidonov and N.A. Selivanov compiled standard (analog) tables for murders committed in the absence of eyewitnesses. These tables trace certain natural connections between the place where the murder was committed, the identity of the victim, her age, the method of committing the crime, and the chosen weapon of the crime. And based on these relationships, typical versions of the killer can be put forward.

Features of the investigation of murders committed by poisoning

Poisoning (a sophisticated method of murder) is most often resorted to by persons closely associated with the victim and who have the opportunity to add a toxic substance to the victim. That is, when poisoning is committed, the killer must be looked for among persons close to the murdered person or among persons who had access to the place where the murder was committed.

In cases of poisoning, the timely departure of the investigative team to the scene of the incident is of great importance, i.e. immediately after receiving information about possible intentional poisoning. If the inspection of the scene of the incident is carried out late, then all important traces of the incident may be lost. In these cases, timely departure to the scene of the incident is very important. And at the scene of the incident, what are we looking for... We are looking not only for traces of toxic substances in glasses, decanters, bottles or other packaging that can be found at the scene of the incident, it is important for us to find traces of the person who could have added it or who could have held it in his hands a glass or glass in which there could be poison that led to the death of a person, If the investigator who went to the scene of the incident sees that there are dishes, bottles or something else at the scene of the incident, but some part of the situation does not contain fingerprints or fatty marks , then this indicates malicious intent. Washed dishes left at the site, the absence of traces of a toxic substance may indicate that a crime was committed here, and it is necessary to look for those persons who could have committed these actions, i.e. eliminate those traces that should be at the crime scene.

What versions could there be...

Version 1 - Premeditated murder.

Version 2 - Non-violent death that occurred due to poisoning with substandard products.

Version 3 - Death as a result of careless handling of poison or toxic substances.

Version 4 - Suicide.

After examining the scene of the incident and the corpse, the home of the deceased is inspected. If there is a suspect, then search that person. During the inspection and search, the investigator, with the help of a pharmacologist, who can be invited from any pharmacy and required to participate in the inspection, searches for and seizes all potent drugs that could lead to the death of a person, such as sleeping pills, painkillers, and packaging for these medications. , narcotic substances, syringes, Known poisons and unknown substances, the composition of which is unknown, can be seized, i.e. When examining the scene, the investigator must pay attention to any details that will help him solve the necessary question. Recipes and papers with records of the purchase of some medications. This is necessary in order to resolve the issue of the type of death (murder, suicide, etc.). It is necessary to pay attention to the victim’s secretions and vomit. It must be removed with the participation of a specialist.

The following examinations are carried out:

Forensic-medical examination. Here the causes of death are clarified, what food the victim took and when, the presence of toxic substances, including narcotic content.

Pharmacological examination. Here, all medications and packaging that the investigator found at the scene and during the search are studied.

Forensic chemical examination. At the same time, the questions are resolved whether there are toxic substances in the victim’s secretions, in his blood, in his internal organs, tissues and contents of the gastrointestinal tract, whether there are the same substances in dishes, food debris, etc.

Physical examination. It uses spectral analysis methods that make it possible to determine, for example, the presence of poisons in the blood or in histological sections of human tissue. The absence of poisons in the corpse does not yet exclude the version of poisoning, since the toxic substance can decompose and leave the body along with any secretions. In addition, the victim's clothing is examined. There are poisons that leave no traces in the body, and death seems to occur for another reason. In this case, the establishment of the fact of murder occurs thanks to operational search activities. Unfortunately, not all murders are solved, because... criminals sometimes choose means of committing murder that cannot yet be detected by modern forensic methods, but scientific methods are also being improved and make it possible to determine some other signs by which it can be established that a murder has been committed.

Botanical examination. Analysis of toxic substances of plant origin. In addition, other examinations are carried out that can resolve issues that remain unresolved by specialists in other fields.

When conducting this category of criminal cases, there is often a need to exhume the corpse (at a time when the case was initially closed because no signs of murder were found).

The following methods must be followed:

— soil samples must be taken;

- samples of the coverlet and paint from the coffin should be taken.

Even if, during a physical or chemical examination, poison is found in the corpse and its hair, in the paint with which the coffin is painted or in the soil where the deceased is buried, the version of murder does not find appropriate confirmation. Next, the relationship between the suspect and the deceased is checked. Cases of poisoning are completed successfully when several cases of death of people are compared and analyzed, which makes it possible to suspect that the murder was committed by poisoning.

Problems that are solved during the investigation of murder cases

Task 1. Establish the identity of the murdered person.

Methods for identifying the murdered person:

1. According to the description of appearance signs, according to the verbal portrait system.

2. Identification photography, recording of special features, including the dental-maxillary apparatus.

3. Presentation for identification of the corpse. For those persons who have made a statement about the disappearance of someone, a dactel map is drawn up, hair samples, blood samples, dirt from under the nails, nail clippings are taken, the remains of food in the stomach are examined, how long before the death the food was taken.

4. A plaster mask of the face and a plaster cast of the hands are made.

5. Signs indicating occupation, profession (peculiar calluses, microparticles on the body, on clothes, the presence of factory marks in the laundry).

6. Checking the card index of missing persons (data is collected from hotels, train stations, lockers, from private individuals renting out rooms, to find out whether those persons who lived with them or contacted them about accommodation have disappeared) .

7. In case of significant changes in appearance, the corpse is toileted (restoration of the facial appearance). If this is not possible, then the method of reconstructing the face from the skull is used.

8. By identifying the culprit, the identity of the deceased can be established.

Task 2. Find out the causes of death, time of death, time of murder.

The time of death can be judged by the so-called cadaveric phenomena, which include:

1. Body temperature of the deceased.

At normal room temperature 150-190, the body temperature of the deceased does not change for 1 - 1.5 hours, then it decreases by an average of 10 per hour, therefore, by the body temperature of the deceased, the time of his death can be determined.

2. Cadaveric spots.

They appear 1.5 - 2 hours after death. In the first 6–10 hours, cadaveric spots can completely change when the location of the corpse changes. Cadaveric spots always form on the lower part of the corpse on which it lies, i.e. where blood flows under the influence of gravity.

3. Rigor mortis.

Rigor mortis begins within the first 6 hours, first in the muscles of the lower jaw. Complete rigor mortis occurs within 8 to 24 hours.

4. Putrefactive phenomena occur on the 3rd – 4th day.

At high temperatures, all cadaveric phenomena appear more quickly, while at low temperatures they are delayed.

The time of death may also be indicated by:

traces of mold;

· presence of certain insects and their biological development;

· stopped clock hands if they were damaged;

· devices turned on or off;

· fed or not fed pets, etc.

Task 3. The number of persons involved in the commission of a crime.

The number of persons involved in the commission of a crime is determined by additional traces found at the crime scene. These could be cigarette butts, dishes, glasses with fingerprints, etc.

Characteristics of secret non-obvious closed murders (without eyewitnesses)

4. A murder investigated in the absence of a victim's corpse. It is very difficult to prove such a murder.

Features of the investigation of murders committed by poisoning

What versions could there be...

Version 1 - Premeditated murder.

Version 2 - Non-violent death that occurred due to poisoning with substandard products.

Version 3 - Death as a result of careless handling of poison or toxic substances.

Version 4 - Suicide.

The following examinations are carried out:

Forensic-medical examination. Here the causes of death are clarified, what food the victim took and when, the presence of toxic substances, including narcotic content.

Pharmacological examination. Here, all medications and packaging that the investigator found at the scene and during the search are studied.

Botanical examination. Analysis of toxic substances of plant origin. In addition, other examinations are carried out that can resolve issues that remain unresolved by specialists in other fields.

When conducting this category of criminal cases, there is often a need to exhume the corpse (at a time when the case was initially closed because no signs of murder were found).

The following methods must be followed:

— soil samples must be taken;

- samples of the coverlet and paint from the coffin should be taken.

Problems that are solved during the investigation of murder cases

Task 1. Establish the identity of the murdered person.

Methods for identifying the murdered person:

1. According to the description of appearance signs, according to the verbal portrait system.

2. Identification photography, recording of special features, including the dental-maxillary apparatus.

4. A plaster mask of the face and a plaster cast of the hands are made.

5. Signs indicating occupation, profession (peculiar calluses, microparticles on the body, on clothes, the presence of factory marks in the laundry).

8. By identifying the culprit, the identity of the deceased can be established.

Task 2. Find out the causes of death, time of death, time of murder.

The time of death can be judged by the so-called cadaveric phenomena, which include:

1. Body temperature of the deceased.

2. Cadaveric spots.

3. Rigor mortis.

Rigor mortis begins within the first 6 hours, first in the muscles of the lower jaw. Complete rigor mortis occurs within 8 to 24 hours.

4. Putrefactive phenomena occur on the 3rd – 4th day.

At high temperatures, all cadaveric phenomena appear more quickly, while at low temperatures they are delayed.

The time of death may also be indicated by:

traces of mold;

· presence of certain insects and their biological development;

· stopped clock hands if they were damaged;

· devices turned on or off;

· fed or not fed pets, etc.

Task 3. The number of persons involved in the commission of a crime.

The number of persons involved in the commission of a crime is determined by additional traces found at the crime scene. These could be cigarette butts, dishes, glasses with fingerprints, etc.

Qualification of the crime

For qualification, it is important that what is done corresponds to:

the concept of concealment (concealment of the crime itself, its weapons, means, traces and objects, objects obtained by the criminal);
active actions;
unplanned and unpromised.

At the same time, many crimes fall under other articles of the Criminal Code. In the event that they are exhausted, Article 316 does not apply. Such crimes include money laundering (Article 174), sale and purchase of stolen goods (Article 175) and others. There are also cases where crimes are classified under several articles, including Article 316.

For example, illegal trafficking in precious metals (191 articles), radioactive substances (220), weapons (221), drugs (228), etc. The list of actions punishable under these articles may include storage of these items. Accordingly, if a person keeps these things of a criminal, then he can be prosecuted both under these articles and under Article 316 for concealing things obtained by criminal means.

Responsibility under the article

As has already been said, they will be held accountable for concealing a crime only if the crime was especially serious and the person who concealed it is not a close relative of the criminal, and also acted actively. In this case, Article 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation allows several types of punishment:

Fine up to 200 thousand rubles or seizure of income for one and a half years.
Arrest for 3-6 months.
Imprisonment for up to 2 years.

The punishment can be quite severe, so you need to understand when actions against a criminal can lead to such consequences.

Can innocence be proven?

Innocence under Article 316 can only be proven if there was no planned intentional assistance to the offender. That is, if the accused can provide unequivocal evidence that he did not know about the crime, then the charge under Article 316 will be dropped.

Such situations do happen in practice. For example, a criminal asked a friend to stay with him for a few days without telling him what was hiding. If the circumstances of the case are proven, then the friend who let the criminal in for the night will not face liability. But it is often very difficult to prove the absence of conspiracy when covering up a crime.

What is the penalty for unintentionally concealing a crime?

Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation implies punishment for unintentional concealment of a crime.

The description of this legislative act suggests that the application of this article is possible provided that this crime was committed in a scenario where a person could not know about the crime committed, but help hide it, or be notified, but actively help with his actions, being introduced misleading, or the person could help completely consciously, but at the same time he did not wish harm to the victim of the offense.

Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Daily from 9.00 to 21.00Moscow and region: +7(499) 288-17-41St. Petersburg

Article 316

Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation punishes a person if he has committed an unintentional concealment of an offense. In this case, he is subject to certain punishment.

The accused may be sentenced to:

Payment of a fine.
Forced labor.
Arrest.
Deprivation of liberty.

The type of punishment depends on what crime was hidden by the criminal. The main thing in this law is that a person must not act intentionally.

But at the same time, he can take quite active actions to conceal the offense, but he should not be an accomplice to the crime. That is, he can help hide traces or evidence, but initially have no motive for the crime committed.

A fine is given to persons who conceal a minor offense. In this case, there is no point in depriving a person of his freedom, so a monetary equivalent of punishment will be applied. The accused in the case may be awarded a fixed fine of up to 200 thousand rubles, and the fine may be calculated as part of the person’s average earnings and other income for a period of 18 months.

Forced labor is given for crimes classified as serious. In this case, concealment of crimes will be assessed more seriously, and therefore the type of responsibility will be stricter.

Under these conditions of the case, the offender may be sentenced to forced labor for the benefit of society, or the criminal punishment will be considered suspended, which implies some restrictions on the offender’s movements.

Real imprisonment for up to 2 years is applicable if concealment of crimes Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is classified as especially serious. In this case, the culprit is covered up, facts are hidden that can help solve cases of murder or large-scale material theft, for example, in the tax sphere.

It is worth noting that sometimes such crimes are committed by military personnel. In this case, the case of non-reporting will be considered not by an ordinary Russian court, but by a military judicial unit in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, since the defendant may be a person subordinate to the criminal.

Ways of concealment

In order to conceal a crime, but at the same time not receive a more serious type of liability for intentional concealment of a crime, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that the accused should not have specific intent against the victim of the offense.

A criminal can hide an offense in the following ways:

harbor a person who has committed a crime;
conceal or destroy evidence or a crime scene;
give advice on direct concealment, but do not participate independently;
give false information to law enforcement authorities;

Thus, the criminal can create a situation in which another offense, where there is a victim, will be quite difficult to solve.

When covering up crimes of Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, comments also take this point into account and the actions committed are of significant importance when imposing punishment.

Who can escape punishment?

This article has a number of exceptions, namely:

If the person is under 16 years of age.
If the person is a close relative of the criminal.
If a person is mentally ill and medicine confirms this fact.

These exceptions are the grounds on which the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will not prosecute them for concealing a crime.

Therefore, even if the fact of deliberate concealment is proven in relation to another person, he cannot be judged, in view of the RF IC.

Moreover, if a person was previously a relative, and then there was a change in this status, then Article 51 will not apply to him, which means he will have to testify and talk about the name of the criminal.

At the same time, the footnote to the article states that, unlike a registered marriage, if there is sufficient evidence, a common-law wife or husband cannot testify against each other.

If a person is mentally ill, then his altered consciousness must be assessed by a medical professional or service consultant who has the right to conduct such examinations.

Typically, such people are in boarding schools, schools or hospitals of the corresponding type and therefore may not realize that they are complicit in aiding the perpetrator of another offense, since they do not evaluate this moment as a competent person.

Special measures of responsibility, consisting of compulsory treatment, should be applied to incompetent and mentally ill criminals.

In this case, he can provide information in any way.

Arbitrage practice

Unfortunately, judicial practice on failure to report is not extensive enough. This is due to the fact that cases of this quality are very difficult to identify, and there is little evidence under this legislative act and they can be hidden very well and not be included in the evidence. An example of such a case could be the following situation:

Citizen Nikitin, drinking with a friend of citizen Svetlova, killed her partner Vlasov out of personal hostility. The method of murder was beating.

Citizen Vlasova decided not to inform the police about this fact; she decided to hide Vlasov’s body so that, as she explains, she would not be asked to move out of her rented home.

Since she is not in a closely related relationship with Nikitin, then the note of Art. 316 does not apply to her. This was explained to her.

Therefore, the court concluded that the evidence provided indicates evasion of reporting the murder.

Citizen Svetlova was sentenced to one year, which was suspended, due to:

she has 2 minor children;
positive references from the place of work;
absence of other aggravating factors.

This case is quite indicative, since it contains the very fact of application of the article, and there is also interaction with the note to the article.

Consultations and comments from lawyers under Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

If you need to protect any person, you need to contact lawyers who have sufficient practical experience under Art. 316.

In this case, applicants can receive:

Consultations regarding the application of the article.
Possible ways to avoid punishment.

A lawyer can also take the responsibility of representing the client’s interests in court, which increases the chances of victory, because a competent employee will be able to submit the necessary information on behalf of the client at the right time.

Source: https://ugolovnoe.com/pravo/kodeks/st-316-uk-rf

Article 316. Concealment of crimes

Concealment of especially serious crimes not promised in advance -

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

Note. A person is not subject to criminal liability for concealment of a crime committed by his spouse or close relative who was not promised in advance.

Article 316

Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation punishes a person if he has committed an unintentional concealment of an offense. In this case, he is subject to certain punishment.

The accused may be sentenced to:

Payment of a fine.
Forced labor.
Arrest.
Deprivation of liberty.

The type of punishment depends on what crime was hidden by the criminal. The main thing in this law is that a person must not act intentionally.

Forced labor is given for crimes classified as serious. In this case, concealment of crimes will be assessed more seriously, and therefore the type of responsibility will be stricter. Under these conditions of the case, the offender may be sentenced to forced labor for the benefit of society, or the criminal punishment will be considered suspended, which implies some restrictions on the offender’s movements.

Commentary to Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. The object of the crime is the social relations that develop in connection with the disclosure of the crime and the exposure of the person guilty of its commission.

Concealment of a crime not promised in advance is similar in its external manifestations to complicity in this crime in the form of aiding and abetting, but differs from the latter in the absence of interdependence of the intentions of the direct perpetrator and other accomplices of a particularly serious crime, on the one hand, and the person carrying out the concealment not promised in advance, on the other hand. another. The absence of a prior promise to perform certain actions during concealment, in contrast to complicity, did not affect the formation and implementation of intent to commit a particularly serious crime.

2. The objective side of the crime is expressed in active actions aimed at concealing the most serious crime, its instruments and objects, traces, as well as concealing the person who committed the crime. Such actions may include destruction by arson or flooding of crime instruments, erasing traces, transporting a criminal by car to a safe place, giving advice on ways to conceal a crime, sending law enforcement agencies on a deliberately false lead.

3. The crime is considered completed from the moment of committing an action aimed at concealing the crime or the person who committed it, regardless of whether it turned out to be effective.

The criminal law does not determine how long after the commission of a particularly serious crime it can be concealed, however, within the meaning of the law, this is possible during the statute of limitations until the crime is disclosed. The concealment itself ends with the implementation of active actions included in the objective side of this crime, despite the fact that the effect of these actions remains. Thus, concealment, expressed in performing plastic surgery on a criminal, should be considered completed after the operation is completed, although thanks to his changed appearance, the criminal continues to hide for a long time.

Covering tracks: who is tried and how for concealing crimes

In Kemerovo, two friends put the body of their acquaintance in a closet, took it out of town and set it on fire in a ditch near the road. The charred remains were accidentally discovered by one of the drivers passing by.

As investigators found out, one of the friends stabbed 28-year-old Sergei Panin with a knife during an argument. The second only helped to hide and destroy the body. The killer was tried under Article 105 and sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.

His assistant friend was found guilty of concealing a crime, but got off with a fine - the court ordered him to pay 190 thousand rubles.

Punishment for “concealment of especially serious crimes not promised in advance” is provided for in Article 316 of the Criminal Code. It may result in a fine, forced labor, arrest or imprisonment. The maximum term is two years in prison.

In practice, those who help murderers get rid of a corpse are most often convicted of concealment, but the article also provides for liability for assistance in getting rid of traces of a crime, documents, cars (or providing a car for transporting weapons or a corpse), as well as murder weapons or other especially serious crime.

Thus, in Chelyabinsk, in the spring of 2016, charges under Article 316 were brought against Elena Samsonova and Semyon Labetsky, friends of Edward Krause, who organized the murder of his friend.

Born Eduard Shutkin (he changed all his documents to a new name shortly before the crime), according to investigators, he killed his girlfriend with several shots to the head; The woman left behind three small children.

Samsonova and Labetsky helped Krause get rid of the corpse, after which the woman gave him a ride to the airport and thus helped him escape, and the man drove the alleged killer’s SUV into the garage.

A 17-year-old teenager from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky asked his brother and a friend (both adults) to help bury the body of the man he killed. The young people did not refuse. The criminal was quickly found, and a year after the murder, in 2014, he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The accused spoke not only about his role, but also about the service provided by a relative and acquaintance, and in the summer of 2016 a case was opened against the latter for concealing a murder.

The brother of the convicted person does not face liability: “A person is not subject to criminal liability for concealment of a crime committed by his spouse or close relative that was not promised in advance,” says the note to Article 316.

"False sense of camaraderie" and suspended sentences

Every year in Russia, courts pass about 300 sentences under Article 316: in 2015, 238 people were convicted, in 2014 - 254 people, in 2013 - 238, in 2012 - 269, in 2011 - 297, in 2010 - 348, in 2009 - 402 people .

The most frequently used punishment is a fine, usually no more than 100 thousand rubles. In December 2016, a 20-year-old resident of the village of Shulgino, located near Perm, was sentenced to a fine.

In May 2016, he saw how his friend stabbed a man on a neighboring property and dragged the body into the house.

As stated in the verdict, “out of a false sense of camaraderie,” the 20-year-old Perm resident not only did not report the murder to the police, but helped his friend hide the body and remove traces of blood. It is not specified how much the court fined him for concealment.

But it is known that the court imposed a fine of 50 thousand rubles on 48-year-old Vladimir Pachin from Tver, but exempted him from paying it due to the amnesty. True, Pachin will still have to pay 270 thousand rubles to the family of 15-year-old Daria S.

, whose corpse he carried out of the apartment where the girl was raped and killed, and then taken to the forest in the Staritsky district of the Tver region.

The rapist, Alexander Treshchatov, who abused a teenage girl and stabbed her to death, hanged himself in a detention center, and his accomplice, 36-year-old Svetlana Sbrueva, received 15 years in prison in the summer of 2016.

Among the articles charged against Sbrueva was Article 316, but the accusation did not stop there: the woman not only cleaned the apartment and hid the girl’s things after her death. While Treshchatov raped her, Sbrueva helped hold the victim and threatened her with a pistol.

Svetlana’s case is typical: as a rule, those accused under Article 316 receive actual prison terms for several crimes.

In the summer of 2015, a young resident of the city of Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, asked her friend to go home with her: the woman was afraid that her boyfriend might beat her, and in front of the guest, she believed, he would behave decently.

The friend was not alone, but with her three-year-old daughter - all three of them came to the apartment, where the 26-year-old lover of the owner of the house was already waiting.

Contrary to the women’s hopes, he did not hold back in front of strangers, and when a friend intervened in the conflict, he stabbed her several times and killed her. But the man did not stop there: with shouts and threats he demanded that his mistress cover up the traces of blood, grabbed a three-year-old girl and threatened to kill all the survivors.

While in the apartment, the killer called his 24-year-old friend, who arrived in a car, into which the accomplices pushed a sobbing child and the corpse of his mother and drove to neighboring Khakassia.

A woman who had locked herself in the apartment called the police, but they could not save the girl: the killer stabbed her to death in a country house near Abakan, where she and a friend brought the body, after which he left both bodies in the house and set it on fire. The accomplices were detained the next morning.

For the brutal double murder and kidnapping of a child, the 26-year-old defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2016, and his friend was sentenced to six years in a maximum security colony and a fine of 100 thousand rubles for complicity in the kidnapping and concealment.

An 18-year-old accomplice to another brutal crime - the murder of a 10-year-old child in the city of Lysva, Perm Territory - although she was charged in addition to Article 316 under Article 117 (torture of a minor), received six years probation. The boy's older sister helped his father, who had beaten the child to death with a wooden board, take the body to the ice hole and drown him, tying a weight to his feet.

As it turned out during the investigation, the boy was beaten and raped by his father (more than 30 episodes of crimes), his mother and older sister were constantly beaten, in addition, the child was locked in a cold basement and was not allowed to eat.

The father received a life sentence, the mother received five years in prison with a suspended sentence until 2029: the woman who abused her middle son also has a younger one-year-old child.

Of the 238 people convicted in 2015 under the article “Concealment,” 26 people, like the 18-year-old resident of Lysva, received suspended sentences, 38 received real sentences. Among them, for example, is a 47-year-old resident of the city of Kholmsk on Sakhalin Island, who helped a friend take out and put in trash cans the dismembered remains of a man he had killed. He was given six months in a colony-settlement.

81 people were sentenced to fines, one to forced labor, another six were found guilty, but for various reasons were released from responsibility. 86 people were amnestied in connection with the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

A corpse in the carpet under the noses of the police and other stories

Full statistics from the Judicial Department at the Supreme Court for 2016 are not yet available, but it is already known that in the first six months of 2016, courts handed down 108 sentences under Article 316.

15 people received real sentences (14 of them - less than one year), 13 - suspended imprisonment, 44 people - fines, two people - another suspended sentence.

27 people were released from punishment under an amnesty, and seven more on other grounds.

In September 2016, the Leninsky District Court of Omsk ordered 25-year-old Ruslan Leshko and 21-year-old Vladislav Veshnyakov to pay a fine of 10 thousand rubles each. On the night of February 25, 2016, the young people received a call from their 20-year-old friend, who asked them to urgently come to his home.

On the spot, it turned out that the owner of the house, along with two other friends, beat his mother’s partner to death. Veshnyakov and Leshko agreed to help bury the body in a grove not far from the house and carried it out of the entrance in a carpet. But there were policemen standing on the corner, and upon noticing them, the young people threw the body right next to the house and ran away.

The police did not pay attention to the carpet: the deceased was found a day later by passers-by. Three accused of his murder received nine years in a maximum security colony.

Among those still awaiting trial is Kristina Chistyakova, an accomplice of those accused of attacking the family of the head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Otradny, Samara Region. Her acquaintances beat policeman Dmitry Vashurkin and killed his wife, after which they robbed their house and fled. Chistyakova is accused of helping to hide stolen money, bank cards and other valuables.

In the Kaluga region, they continue to investigate the murder of a four-year-old girl in a foster family: the woman who adopted her beat the child to death with a mop. The husband of the accused murderer was charged with Article 316 because he helped take the girl’s body to the forest and bury it there. In total, there were three children in the family: the couple’s own 11-year-old son and the 16-year-old brother of the deceased girl are now in a boarding school.

In Irkutsk, the investigation into the murder of a prostitute has been completed: her 23-year-old colleague strangled her out of jealousy.

The boyfriend, who cheated on one sex worker with another, helped get rid of the corpse after the murder: he dismembered it and buried it, and his girlfriend fled to Kamchatka.

Six months later, the police found the murder suspect and arrested her; the accomplice, accused under Article 316, is under recognizance not to leave the place.

It would seem, what does Yarovaya have to do with it?

316 is not the only article of the Criminal Code that provides for liability for those who knew about the crime but did not report it to law enforcement agencies.

In the summer of 2016, the State Duma adopted the so-called “Yarovaya package,” amending several laws and codes at once, including the Criminal Code.

The goal proclaimed by the authors of the amendments, Deputy Irina Yarovaya and Senator Viktor Ozerov, is to tighten responsibility for crimes related to terrorism.

In fact, the amendments oblige telecom operators and Internet providers to store and transfer to FSB authorities upon request information about calls and messages; equate social networks with the media; expand the list of crimes for which liability begins at the age of 14; prohibit missionary activity without registration; oblige Russian Post to check parcels for prohibited contents.

Among the amendments to the Criminal Code adopted in the “package” is Article 205.6 “Failure to report a crime.”

Unlike concealment, the potential accused himself does not need to do anything under this article - it is enough not to report to the police or the FSB “about a person (persons) who, according to reliably known 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.” Failure to inform becomes criminally punishable if a person knew about the preparation of terrorist attacks, hostage-taking, armed rebellion or an attempt on the life of a statesman. Punishment: up to a year in prison.

“I have not yet heard about the practice of applying this article, we will see in April in the statistics of the Judicial Department for the entire 2016. In general, non-reporting is the “non-reporting” that existed in Soviet criminal legislation, only named differently.

Apparently, they wanted to find a wording without such a connotation, so that the word “denunciation” would not sound, but in fact it is the same thing,” lawyer Ivan Pavlov comments on the innovation. In his opinion, legislators in this case “invaded the plane of morality and morality”: “You find out that someone is preparing a terrorist attack, what will you do? The question is serious.

Someone will immediately report, someone will try to stop, someone will pass by. A serious question - but not a legal one. And he was transferred to the field of law, and immediately criminal.”

The lawyer believes that, first of all, Article 205.

6 will begin to be applied in the North Caucasus, where many terrorist crimes are being investigated: “The article makes an exception for close relatives, they are not obliged by law to inform, but in the Caucasian republics family ties are stronger: uncles, cousins and great-nephews are considered close relatives. There are entire villages where everyone is somehow related by family ties. Apparently, the article was introduced with the expectation that it would be possible to exploit it there, obliging everyone to inform on each other.”

“The key difference between Article 205.6 and Article 316 on concealment is that concealment is some kind of action: helping to hide traces, the consequences of a crime. The new article introduces punishment for inaction,” says Pavlov.

Source: https://zona.media/article/2017/23/01/codex-316

Article 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - Concealment of crimes

Specifically Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for concealment of crimes in various forms, manifestations, as well as the degree of participation. The main factor here is that there was no prior agreement between the person and the performer. The person accused under this article is most often an accidental witness.

Another significant point is the concealment of a particularly serious crime. However, the main thing to distinguish this legal violation from related acts is that actions must take place without prior agreements before committing a violation of criminal law.

Download for viewing and printing:

Ways of concealment

In order to conceal a crime, but at the same time not receive a more serious type of liability for intentional concealment of a crime, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation states that the accused should not have specific intent against the victim of the offense.

A criminal can hide an offense in the following ways:

harbor a person who has committed a crime;
conceal or destroy evidence or a crime scene;
give advice on direct concealment, but do not participate independently;
give false information to law enforcement authorities;

Thus, the criminal can create a situation in which another offense, where there is a victim, will be quite difficult to solve.
When covering up crimes of Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, comments also take this point into account and the actions committed are of significant importance when imposing punishment.

Composition of the act

The main components of any crime are 4 factors: object, objective side, subject and subjective side.

The considered norm of criminal law for each of the factors has its own characteristics that distinguish it from other acts.

An object

Under the object of failure to report a crime according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Article 316 understands those relationships that arise after, during the investigation.

Concealment, as well as participation in it, is a direct obstacle to a speedy, full-fledged, reliable investigation for law enforcement agencies. Here the object is public relations during the investigation.

Objective side

The very actions that a person performs are aimed at achieving the following goals:

Concealment of the very fact of a criminally punishable act;
Concealment of a person guilty of a particularly serious offense;
Concealment and destruction of weapons and additional devices directly related to the committed criminal violation;
Getting rid of traces;
Arson or destruction of the place where a serious act was committed;
Carrying out transportation or sale of things with traces or stolen during a serious offense;
Providing qualified assistance on methods or methods of solving crimes (applies to officials or people with a legal education);
Providing false information or testimony to investigative authorities.

Subject

The norm in question assumes that the subject can be any person who has reached the age of criminal responsibility - 16 years. The legal norm itself provides for an exception in relation to the spouse or close relative of the perpetrator of the main crime. They cannot be held accountable under Article 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

When concealment was committed by an official who used his official position or powers, Art. 316, in aggregate the provisions of Art. 285 and 286 of the Criminal Code: abuse of official powers and excess of official powers.

Download for viewing and printing:

Subjective side

Here, only direct intent can be the subjective side. There is no talk of any indirect intention. A person who has become the perpetrator of actions concealing a crime must initially know both about the originally committed act and about the consequences of his own actions to conceal the culprit. That is, a person must understand that by his actions he is helping the guilty person to avoid legal punishment.

Legal characteristics of the crime

Failure to report a crime according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will be completed at the moment when at least one action is taken to conceal the fact of the act by the perpetrator. Even if the expected result does not occur, and the investigative authorities uncover a criminal offense, including a secondary intent, the qualification of the actions of an outside participant will occur in accordance with norm 316 of the Criminal Code.

The legislation does not define a time period for this provision during which concealment actions can be carried out. Without additional legal clarification, it is assumed that this is possible throughout the entire statute of limitations from the date of the commission of a particularly serious act.

Peculiarities

The criminal law provision on concealment can only be applied to particularly serious crimes.

The investigator cannot apply such an article to acts of moderate gravity. Here the maximum that is permissible is perjury. Investigative authorities should remember: the actual concealment ceases at the moment when the state authorities become aware of the crime committed or when they establish the identity of the perpetrator.

Before charging a person with concealment, it is necessary to ensure that at the time of committing actions that impeded the investigation, he was fully aware of the consequences. Concealment is permissible only if the person has direct intent to create an obstacle, to hide the fact or the culprit of the crime.

Intended punishment

According to the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, several types of punishment are provided for harboring a criminal:

Fine up to 200,000 rubles;
A fine in the amount of the salary or other income of the guilty person for a period of up to 18 months;
Forced labor for a period of no more than 2 years;
Arrest for a maximum of 6 months;
Imprisonment for no more than 2 years.

Note! For concealment of a committed unlawful act, criminal as well as administrative liability is provided under Art. 17.8 and 17.9 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

Legal commentary on the article

Active lawyers point out that this legal norm cannot qualify the actions of a person who directly took part in the commission of a serious act.

As an example: Petrov S. and Sudonov K. committed murder. Both participated in causing grievous injuries resulting in the death of a person. Sudonov K., after committing criminal acts, took measures to conceal traces. The norm of Art. cannot be applied to Sudonov K. 316 of the Criminal Code, because he is not just a concealer of a criminal act, but also its direct perpetrator.

Particular attention is paid to the fact that assistance in concealment from other persons can manifest itself not only in physical actions or material things, but also in intellectual knowledge.

Arbitrage practice

The Leninsky District Court of Irkutsk considered a criminal case on charges of I.S. in committing a crime under Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. During the consideration, the court found that I.S. being in the apartment, he knew about what N.N. had committed. murder of citizen A.B. In order to help avoid N.N. criminal liability of I.S. took active action together with N.N. for concealing a particularly serious offense committed without prior agreement. Directly I.S. helped clean the floor of the apartment from traces of blood, took a rag with blood to the trash. He also provided physical assistance in removing the corpse of A.B. from the apartment and loading it into a UAZ car belonging to convicted N.N.

Later, I.S. had the opportunity to inform law enforcement about the murder that had occurred and the identity of the person responsible, but he did not. At the court hearing, defendant I.S. fully admitted his guilt. In addition, the fault of I.S. proven by witness testimony and collected materials.

The court found I.S. guilty of committing a crime under Art. 316 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sentenced him to imprisonment for a period of 6 months to be served in a general regime colony.