Responsibility for insult based on nationality

What is considered a national insult?

According to Russian legislation, an insult based on nationality is considered to be the public utterance of obscene words addressed to a specific nation or its representative, emphasizing the person’s belonging to this nation.

To insult other people, they can also use the symbols of any state or other symbols associated with the culture of a given people.

Based on hatred towards another nation, they can humiliate its representatives or representatives of an entire race, as well as native speakers and representatives of a certain religion.

Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the first part qualifies insult based on nationality as inciting hatred. In combination with aggravating circumstances, such actions can be interpreted as undermining the state system. This is regarded by law as a serious crime.

Arbitrage practice

Inciting national, racial or religious hatred is actively punished by Russian courts. The number of people convicted under Article 282 is constantly growing. In 2011, 82 guilty verdicts were handed down under this article; a year later, the number of guilty verdicts had already doubled. In 2014, there was another jump to 307 people convicted under the article. The growth trend continued in 2015 – 588 people were convicted under this article. In 2016, the number of convictions came close to one thousand.

• Didn't find the answer to your question? Find out how to solve exactly your problem - call right now:
• Federal number -
• Moscow region, Moscow -
• Leningr. region, St. Petersburg -
• It's absolutely free and fast!

Corpus delicti

The object of insult is the honor and dignity of a person. But in the case of insulting on ethnic grounds and inciting hatred with its help, public safety also becomes an object.

Discord becomes the reason for committing violent crimes, the object of which is the health and life of people.

This type of crime is committed during the following actions:

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: 8 (800) 301-39-20

• Propaganda. At the same time, ideas of hostility towards a specific national group are actively spreading. For dissemination, various communication channels can be used, including the media.
• Humiliation of dignity through obscene and slanderous statements addressed to a person belonging to a certain social or national group.
• Exaltation of a nation or race. In practice, this most often comes down to Nazi propaganda.

Such actions directly cause moral damage to the victims, and often to the entire society.

The subject of ethnic insult may be a sane person over the age of 16 years. The subjective side is expressed in the presence of direct intent. The criminal wants the negative consequences of his actions to occur as quickly as possible.

Dog like

The Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia included detailed explanations regarding insults in its latest review of judicial practice. We must remember two things. First: no matter what happens, we must control ourselves and choose civilized words. Second: if we are insulted, it is very easy to hold us accountable. There is no need to swear back, and even more so, there is no need to rush at the offender with your fists. It is enough to record the fact and write a statement where it should be. Believe me: the offender will pay in full.

“So, O., using a mobile phone that belonged to her, recorded a voice message and sent it from the subscriber number assigned to her by her cellular operator via the messenger Sh.,” says the review of the Supreme Court of Russia. “In this message, O., using profanity, expressed dissatisfaction with Sh.’s organization of a photo shoot for kindergarten students, which offended the latter.”

History is silent about what was wrong with the photo shoot. But because citizen O. chose the wrong words to express her thoughts, she had to pay a fine. True, her punishment was commuted because the insults were made in private: that is, in personal correspondence, and not in front of everyone.

There is an important legal nuance here, which the Supreme Court clarified. The Code of Administrative Offenses distinguishes face-to-face and public insults. For the first ones, the punishment for citizens is from 3 to 5 thousand rubles. For the latter - including insults on the Internet - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles. As the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia explained in its review of judicial practice, insults committed by sending SMS messages or personal messages, including voice messages, in messengers or social networks, are subject to qualification under the first point, that is, as private.

You need to complain about insults to the prosecutor's office. The case is being heard by the Magistrate's Court

“The Supreme Court examined the practice of “newfangled” public and private insults in instant messengers, social networks and on the Internet, insult by one person to several at once, as well as the issue of minor insults. At the same time, insult can include not only swearing and comparison with animals, but also other “insults,” says Artem Korostelev, a member of the Russian Lawyers’ Association. — It all depends on the convincingness of the applicant’s arguments. An additional argument would be, for example, the conclusion of a linguistic examination.”

For example, as the Supreme Court said, a certain M. “posted a comment on the website of the maternity hospital in which she spoke insultingly about doctor A., ​​informing network users about the poor quality of medical services provided to her by this doctor, using expressions that contradict generally accepted norms of morality and morality and are humiliating honor and dignity of the victim."

For this, the woman was punished under the second, more severe, point. After all, the insults were public. A person has the right to express his dissatisfaction with someone’s work, that’s why review services exist. However, when speaking about someone, one should not cross boundaries. “The doctor is not qualified enough, I’m unhappy” is one thing, and “the doctor is complete... (expletive)” is quite another. The line between opinion and insult when writing a review is simple: you need to say what you know, not what you think.

RG experts explain the legal qualification of insults in the “Legal Consultation” section

“Resolutions to initiate a case of administrative liability for insult are drawn up by city and district prosecutors, so you need to complain to the prosecutor’s office,” explains Artem Korostelev. The case of insult is being heard by the Magistrates' Court. According to the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of Russia, last year the courts punished more than 13.5 thousand citizens for insults. In order to record insults on the Internet, you need to contact a notary.

For example, as told in the Supreme Court, a certain citizen G. “posted a video on a social network, available for viewing by an unlimited circle of people, addressed to A. and accompanied by an indecent statement, degrading the honor and dignity of the latter.” The result of the appeal is a fine.

Serial abusers are also emerging. The press service of the courts of the Vologda region "RG" told the story of 65-year-old Victor P. One evening the pensioner addressed his neighbor with words in an indecent form, insulting her honor and dignity. The magistrate found P. guilty. And a few months earlier, the pensioner had already been fined one thousand rubles for insulting his neighbor’s son. So the system of punishment for insults has been worked out.

Qualifying features

Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation defines three qualifying criteria:

• Use of threat or violence during the commission of a crime. The deed is characterized by the severity of its consequences.
• Using official position to incite ethnic hatred.
• Committing a crime by a group of people by prior conspiracy.

If there are several signs in a particular case, the punishment of the perpetrators will be determined based on their totality.

Types of insult to a minor

Among children and teenagers, personal grievances of minors are always present. Often this manifests itself in relation to physically or mentally weak children, enslaved in behavior, in a word - different from their peers.

Grievances can be represented by:

Personal enmity

Occurs among teenagers whose interests contradict each other. Hostility is usually expressed in verbal rudeness, indecent gestures, ridicule of the opponent’s qualities, etc.

National or religious motives

Humiliation of honor and dignity is accompanied by hostility to the traditions or religion of various faiths. Even if a child behaves appropriately, this may not stop the abusers.

Rudeness on the Internet

Being born into the world of information technology, children can also be harmed by social media. For example, if adults or peers post defamatory information or pictures of an immoral nature online with a hint about the identity of the victim.

Telephone attacks

Calling names, ridicule, rude statements towards a minor via landline or mobile phone.

When faced with the fact of insulting children, you should immediately take action against the offender. Moreover, it is much more effective to punish the guilty person according to the law than to respond to him with rudeness for rudeness. From this point of view, parents must explain to the minor that he is under protection and must correctly assess the situation.

Responsibility

If an insult based on nationality is classified under the first part of Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the perpetrators face up to 5 years in prison. Additionally, the court has the right to prohibit them from engaging in certain activities.

If there are qualifying elements of a crime, the term of imprisonment will increase to 6 years. In addition, a fine may be applied.

Legal scholars note that Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is quite abstract and allows it to be interpreted very broadly. Therefore, in the case of an unprofessional approach to assessing a crime, human rights may be limited.

How to file a child abuse report

If a teenager has been insulted, it is necessary to write a statement to bring the perpetrators to administrative responsibility. Such appeals are accepted by territorial police departments and the prosecutor's office. Such statements do not have a set form; therefore, they are compiled in any form. However, the application must contain the following points:

• circumstances of the incident;
• how are insults expressed?
• date and time of the incident.

Such applications must be submitted no later than 2 months after the incident. Decisions on such appeals are made within 2 days, after which a case of an administrative offense is initiated or a refusal is issued.

Where to go if a child was insulted by another student at school

In such situations, you can contact the police, but it is not necessary to notify the parents of the perpetrator about your actions.
However, here you will have to provide the investigation with evidence confirming the fact of insult, for example, testimony of witnesses to the incident. If we are talking about a minor schoolchild who insulted a classmate, the parents will bear responsibility for him. When the accused is over 16 years old, he is responsible before the law independently.

Where to go if a child was insulted by a teacher

Here, the first point of reference is the head teacher or school director, who must explain the unprofessional behavior of the teacher.
It is important to understand that teachers do not have the right to abuse students under any circumstances. Sometimes the situation is resolved already at this stage, when the culprit apologizes and receives reprimand from immediate management. In addition, parents have the right to file a complaint with the police and prosecutor's office. If we are talking about compensation for moral damage, a claim is filed in court. In any case, the accusation must be confirmed. Evidence can include testimony, recordings from a phone camera, screenshots of social network pages if the insult occurs via the Internet.

What is the list of evidence for insult?

The list may vary significantly under specific circumstances, but a number of pieces of evidence can be highlighted:

1. A notarial protocol for the inspection of the site, which records the information that is disputed.
2. Linguistic examination, establishing the defamatory nature of information, its factual nature (not a value judgment). It is not always required, in situations where there is no clearly defamatory nature of the information or the information is not in whole or in part factual in nature.
3. Information about the number of visits to a site page (can be requested from the administration of the web resource).
4. Documents and information characterizing the applicant’s personality, professional qualities, skills and abilities. Depending on the content of the information that is disputed.

If you have a need to protect your honor, dignity, or business reputation, you can contact us by ordering a service. A specialized lawyer will evaluate possible ways to solve the problem.

Algorithm of actions for bringing to justice

It is not always possible to prove insult on the Internet. It is necessary to prove that the insult was committed by a specific individual. Only after this can you file a complaint against the offender. The complaint can be addressed to the following authorities:

• to the police;
• to the magistrate's court;
• to the prosecutor's office;
• administration of the social network on whose pages the incident occurred;
• the provider where the site is hosted.

The last two options do not provide for the imposition of administrative measures. These structures can only remove the user from the social network. network or block the site on which the insult was posted.

Please note: recently it has become easier to prove facts of insults on social networks, and on the Internet in general, since it has become possible to record them and have them certified by a notary. To do this, you need to take a screenshot of the page with the insult, ask the notary whether he provides the service of notarizing such papers, and then have it notarized. This will help prove the offense committed.