Threat of property damage under articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: features and responsibility

What is considered a threat of property damage - its main features

When someone threatens to ruin someone else's property , it infuriates, frightens, and forces you to behave carefully. According to the law, it is impossible to prosecute before the threat moves from words to actions. For example, if someone threatens to break your car, then until he does this, there is no crime. It is almost impossible to initiate a criminal case.

According to Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation , the threat of damage to property is not considered as a basis for detention. Damage to property means damage or complete destruction of material assets belonging to another person. The crime may be related to:

movable property;
real estate;
human life;
the life of his pets.

The destruction of other people's material assets by any method dangerous to society is possible only if there are clear intentions. If intentions were only voiced, but there were no specific actions, then no one will be held criminally liable.

For example, this article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in case of a threat of arson (although it may be accompanied by actions dangerous not only to material objects, but also to people’s lives), however, if damage to property did not occur, then the crime did not take place.

If the arson was committed intentionally, this is a crime considered in Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is difficult to prove someone’s guilt in carrying out this criminal act, since fire destroys evidence . But if guilt is proven, the criminal will be punished.

Is this a traffic accident?

It is quite interesting how damage sustained by a car in a parking lot is classified. It is considered an accident only if the car is damaged by another moving vehicle. In other situations, damage is classified as damage. That is, if someone was driving in a parking lot and hit your car, it is an accident (for example, a car, motorcycle or scooter). If someone intentionally or accidentally scratched the paint, knocked down the wiper, or left a dent, this is causing damage to your property (Article 15 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Important!

If you were hit with a car door in a parking lot (when the other owner had already parked and was just getting out), this is not an accident, but damage. If the owner of another car was parking and hit your car, this is an accident in the parking lot.

The corpus delicti – is there liability for the threat of damage itself?

The law does not provide for punishment for a verbal threat to damage someone else's property. According to Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, prosecution for intentional damage to material assets is possible only if damage is caused in the amount of 2,500 rubles or more.

Criminal liability for causing damage to someone else's property through negligence occurs if the amount of damage caused is more than 250 thousand rubles.

If we consider Article 214 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation , then punishment is possible only if losses are caused in public places. And criminal liability under Part 2 of the same article occurs when the object of damage is federal property damaged by a group of people in public places.

The penalty applies only to persons who are at least 16 years of age. However, if the crime has aggravating circumstances, for example, damage to people’s health is caused, then criminal liability begins at the age of 14 .

What to do if your car is damaged in the yard: step-by-step instructions?

If you discover that your car has been damaged in your yard, proceed as follows:

record the damage to your car by taking photographs, you can also film your car and the damage on it
if the car is damaged by another car, that is, there is an accident, then call the traffic police , if the car was damaged by the actions of third parties, then call the police
taking into account the situation, in some cases, you can call a representative of the management company if, for example, a tree fell on a car, snow fell from the roof
contact the insurance company to compensate you for the damage. Compensation for damage is possible under a CASCO policy, and in case of an accident, if the culprit has an MTPL policy, then under an MTPL policy
after identifying the culprit, causing damage to the car, and the impossibility of obtaining compensation from the insurance company, determine the amount of damage caused and send a written claim to the culprit
after the deadline for responding to the claim has expired and in the absence of voluntary compensation for damage on the part of the culprit who caused the harm, file a claim with the culprit in court
obtain a court decision and contact the bailiffs to recover damages from the culprit of the damage that was caused to your car

Qualifications – objective and subjective side

Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation consists of two parts:

Provides punishment for committing a simple crime: damaging or destroying someone else's material assets, the value of which is more than 5 thousand rubles, without factors determining qualifications.
Concerns criminal acts, the consequences of which have aggravating consequences. For example, damaging someone else's car in a way dangerous to society (explosion), as a result of which people died.

If the criminal’s act contains qualifying features, he faces serious punishment .

The objective side of the crime is the intentional damage to someone else’s property.

The subjective side is direct or indirect intent. This means that will be punished , but also the person indirectly associated with the crime.

How to file a claim for car damage?

A claim for damage to a vehicle is made in free form. The following information should be included in the claim:

indicate the addressee to whom the claim is sent, i.e. for an individual, full name and address, for a legal entity - name and address
indicate from whom the claim is being sent , i.e. your name, address and telephone number for contact
name the document - claim
in the text of the claim, reflect the circumstances under which the damage to the car was discovered, i.e. when, at what time, where, what exactly was damaged in the car, what is the cost of restoration or what damage was caused, how was the amount of damage determined
in the text it would not be superfluous to make references to specific rules of law justifying the legality of the applicant’s demands: 15, 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation
In the pleading part of the claim, indicate your specific requirements , i.e. compensate for damage and/or other claims
if necessary , attach copies of documents to the claim , for example, photos and indicate them in the list of attachments
at the end put the date of signing the claim, signature and transcript of the signature

The claim can be written by hand, but then it is necessary to write in several copies so that one copy of the claim remains in your hands. It will be easier to prepare the claim in printed form and print out several copies.

USEFUL : For more instructions on how to file a claim, see the video and the link on our website

Aggravating features

These are considered:

arson of someone else's property (movable or immovable);
explosion, flooding;
As a result of damage to other people's property, people were injured or died.

Attention! If the crime was committed by several persons who discussed a plan of action in advance, this is also an aggravating circumstance.

When additional means or devices are used to commit a crime, the offender receives a more severe punishment.

Determining the amount of damage to damaged or lost property

When investigating the event described above, an appraisal is used to determine the amount of damage to lost property.

When carrying out this examination, the expert assesses the value of the damaged or destroyed item at the time of its damage, taking into account its wear and tear, assesses the possibility of restoration and the cost of this repair.

In this case, the specifics of the valuation of each property are determined based on the type of property:

If the object of damage is an item of clothing, then in this case the assessment is made using the surviving payment documents for this product;
The most common subject of valuation is a car, in this case the make, year of manufacture, mileage, technical condition of the car and other parameters are taken into account, taking into account which the expert determines the value of the lost property;
When assessing real estate, an expert uses various valuation methods, the most common is the comparative method, based on which the cost of the premises is determined based on the cost of similar real estate in a given region;
If it is impossible to evaluate the goods by an expert and the payment documents are lost, in some cases the victim’s explanation of the amount of damage is used.

In this case, the person who committed this act as part of his defense can receive his own expert opinion, on the basis of which he can challenge the materials available in the case, and also demand that the examination be re-appointed.

ATTENTION : watch a video about defending the rights of the accused by a lawyer and subscribe to our YouTube channel, you will have access to free legal assistance from a lawyer through comments on the video.

Liability for the threat of property damage - what it consists of

We have already mentioned that there cannot be criminal liability for threatening to damage property, since these are just words. The overall picture for attracting an article consists of several factors:

intentional or accidental damage;
the amount of damage caused;
Are there any aggravating circumstances?

If the amount of material damage is from 5 thousand rubles , the person who committed the act faces:

fine - 40 thousand rubles or the income of the culprit for the last 3 months;
up to 1 year of correctional labor;
up to 2 years of forced labor;
360 hours of mandatory work;
imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years (imprisonment or arrest).

In cases where a crime is committed in a manner dangerous to the life and health of others, or other circumstances from the second part of Article 167 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are present, the perpetrator may be sentenced to correctional labor or imprisonment for up to 5 years .

If the perpetrator admits his guilt, or it is proven, the victim has the right to demand compensation for damages by filing an appropriate claim. The amount of the required amount must be justified by relevant documents .

How to arrange everything?

In the first case (with an accident), it is also of considerable importance whether the culprit fled the scene or not. If he waited for you, admits his guilt and is ready to participate in the proceedings and drawing up a protocol, this makes the task much easier.

By the way, in some cases you can do without the traffic police at all and simply draw up a notification of an accident (the so-called European protocol). This diagram of an accident in a parking lot is the simplest and most understandable; it is permissible if the following conditions are met:

No casualties (people).
The accident involved only two cars.
Both owners have compulsory motor liability insurance.
The circumstances of the harm do not cause disagreements among the participants in the accident, or there are such disagreements, but then future repairs to the injured party’s car will not exceed 100 thousand rubles.

This option for registering an accident significantly simplifies the situation and makes it possible not to waste a lot of time on official proceedings.

However, even if this option does not suit you, in general there should be no problems, and all repair costs will be covered by insurance or the funds of the culprit.

If the person who damaged your car fled the scene, you still need to call the traffic police and remain at the scene until all formalities are completed.

Arbitrage practice

To better understand the topic, consider several examples from judicial practice on this article:

The defendant visited a grocery store where he stole several items. Then he remembered about his friend, with whom he had a bad relationship. He approached his car and threw 5 stones at it, causing significant damage. Based on Article 167, the court sentenced him to 300 hours of compulsory work;
The victim has a car on which a tree fell. He blamed the city administration for this, demanding compensation. However, the administration did not agree with this, saying that the tree was located in a green area that belonged to the residents. During the judicial proceedings, the mistake was corrected that the tree was located in a green zone. The persons who could “help” the tree fall were not found, and accordingly it was not possible to bring charges under Article 167.

What to do if you hit a parked car?

It is possible that while driving a car, you can accidentally hit a parked car. What to do? It is better to act as follows:

stop your car at the scene of the accident and turn on the emergency lights by putting up a warning triangle
take a photo of the accident scene, car damage, you can also make a video on your phone
if the car creates obstacles for the passage of other cars, then it should be removed from the roadway, provided that the steps to photograph the cars at the scene of the accident have been completed
after this, you should try to find the owner of the damaged car, call the traffic police or negotiate with the victim about compensation for damage by issuing a receipt, or drawing up a European report

Thus, if you are the culprit of damage to a parked car, you should not leave the scene of the accident, but you must follow the above steps.