Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with Commentary 2022: latest changes and amendments, judicial practice

ST 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

1. Intentional infliction of serious harm to health, dangerous to human life, or resulting in loss of vision, speech, hearing or any organ or loss of organ functions, termination of pregnancy, mental disorder, drug addiction or substance abuse, or resulting in permanent disfigurement a person who has caused a significant permanent loss of general ability to work by at least one-third or a complete loss of professional ability to work, known to the perpetrator, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to eight years.

2. The same acts committed: a) against a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person or the performance of a public duty; b) in relation to a minor or another person who is known to be in a helpless state by the perpetrator, as well as with special cruelty, humiliation or torture for the victim; c) in a generally dangerous manner; d) for hire; e) for hooligan reasons; f) for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity towards any social group; g) for the purpose of using the victim’s organs or tissues; h) with the use of weapons or objects used as weapons - is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to ten years, with or without restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

3. Acts provided for in parts one or two of this article, if they are committed: a) by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group; b) in relation to two or more persons, - c) has lost force, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of up to twelve years, with or without restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

4. Acts provided for in parts one, two or three of this article, which through negligence resulted in the death of the victim, are punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to fifteen years, with or without restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

Commentary to Art. 111 Criminal Code

1. The objective side of this crime is expressed in an act that caused serious harm to health.

2. The medical characteristics of serious harm to health are enshrined in the Criminal Code and include: a) life-threatening harm to health, which is determined by the method of its infliction; b) causing consequences specifically designated by law - loss of vision, speech, hearing, loss of any organ or loss of an organ’s functions, termination of pregnancy (this type of serious harm to health differs from illegal abortion in that it is committed by the perpetrator against the will and wishes of the victim ), mental disorder, drug addiction or substance abuse, permanent facial disfigurement; c) significant permanent loss of general ability to work by at least one third; d) complete loss of professional ability known to the perpetrator. The content of these characteristics is disclosed in the Rules for determining the severity of harm caused to human health, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 17, 2007 N 522, and in the Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia of April 24, 2008 N 194n “On approval of Medical criteria for determining the severity of harm harm to human health."

3. Intentional grievous bodily harm should be distinguished from attempted murder. This means that if, as a result of actions aimed at taking the life of the victim, grievous harm to his health was caused, then the act should be classified as attempted murder.

4. By bullying and torment (clause “b” of Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) we should understand actions that cause additional suffering to the victim (for example, prolonged infliction of pain by pinching or deprivation of food, drink, etc.). The forensic medical expert does not establish the fact of bullying or torture, but he states whether grievous harm to health was caused in this way.

5. In practice, there is a need to distinguish murder from the intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm, resulting in the death of the victim through negligence (Part 4 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code). In case of murder, the intent of the perpetrator is aimed at depriving the victim of life, and when committing a crime under Part 4 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the attitude of the perpetrator towards the death of the victim is expressed in negligence. When deciding the direction of the intent of the perpetrator, the courts must proceed from the totality of all the circumstances of the crime committed and take into account, in particular, the method and weapons of the crime, the number, nature and location of bodily injuries (for example, injuries to vital organs of a person), as well as the preceding and subsequent crime behavior of the perpetrator and the victim, their relationship.

Second commentary to Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being of a person, in which there are no diseases, as well as disorders of the functions of organs or systems of the body (clause 1 of Article 2 of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 23 “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation” ).

2. The objective side of this crime includes the act (action or inaction), serious harm to health as a consequence of the act and the causal connection between the act and the resulting consequences. Serious bodily harm has two alternative characteristics: danger of harm to life; outcome (consequences) of harm that is not life-threatening at the time of its infliction (clause “a” of Article 4 of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 17, 2007 No. 522 “On approval of the Rules for determining the severity of harm caused to human health”). In accordance with the Medical criteria for determining the severity of harm to health (approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 24, 2008 No. 194 n), harm to health is considered dangerous if, by its nature, it directly poses a threat to life, as well as harm to health that causes the development of life-threatening conditions (penetrating brain injuries, damage to large blood vessels, etc.).

Based on the outcome, two types of signs are distinguished: pathological and economic. Pathological signs are listed in Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code: loss of vision, speech, hearing or any organ, or loss of organ function, termination of pregnancy, mental disorder, drug addiction, substance abuse, or resulting in permanent disfigurement of the face.

Consequences that do not correspond to the listed criteria are assessed on the basis of permanent loss of ability to work (economic criterion): persistent loss of general ability to work by at least one third or complete loss of professional ability to work. The significance of the loss of general ability to work is determined in accordance with the “Table of percentages of permanent loss of general ability to work as a result of various injuries, poisonings and other consequences of external causes” (appendix to the “Medical criteria for determining the severity of harm caused to human health”).

Complete loss of professional ability to work is determined in accordance with Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 16, 2000 No. 789 “On approval of the Rules for determining the degree of loss of professional ability to work as a result of industrial accidents and occupational diseases.”

3. The subjective side of that crime includes direct or indirect intent.

4. The subject of this crime is a person who has reached the age of 14 years.

5. Qualified types of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm are provided for in parts 2, 3 and 4 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code. In content they are identical to those explained in the commentary to Art. 105 of the Criminal Code.

Special qualified types of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm (with signs not specified in Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code) are: committing this crime with mockery or torment for the victim (clause “b” of Part 2) and committing acts provided for in parts 1, 2 and 3, resulting in the death of the victim through negligence (part 4).

Torment is an action that causes suffering. The practice of forensic medical examinations has developed criteria for assessing the circumstances of torture, according to which torture includes actions that cause suffering through prolonged deprivation of food, drink and warmth, or placing (or leaving) the victim in conditions harmful to health, or other similar actions. Bullying is mockery, offensive behavior that causes suffering to a person.

6. Causing grievous bodily harm, resulting in the death of the victim through negligence (Part 4). The objective side of this crime includes two consequences, one of which is primary (serious harm to health), and the other is derivative (death as a result of serious harm to health). The presence of two consequences determines the peculiarity of the causal connection as a sign of the corpus delicti of this crime. The act in this case is a necessary sufficient cause only for grievous bodily harm. It is not enough to cause death, the direct cause of which is a health disorder (for example, acute blood loss as a result of damage to an artery important to life).

The subjective side of the crime contains two forms of guilt: intent in relation to health disorder and negligence in relation to death.

Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated January 27, 1999 N 1. On judicial practice in murder cases

Murder means intentionally causing the death of another person. Types of murder: 1) simple - murder without qualifying or privileged characteristics (Part 1 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation); 2) qualified - murder with aggravating circumstances, i.e. murder of: - two or more persons; - a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person or the performance of a public duty; - a person who is known to the perpetrator to be in a helpless state, as well as associated with the kidnapping of a person or the taking of a hostage; - a woman who is known to the perpetrator to be in a state of pregnancy; - committed with particular cruelty ;- committed in a generally dangerous way;- committed by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group;- for mercenary motives or for hire, as well as associated with robbery, extortion or banditry;- for hooligan motives;- in order to hide another crime or facilitate its commission, as well as those associated with rape or violent acts of a sexual nature; - motivated by national, racial, religious hatred or enmity or blood feud; - for the purpose of using the organs or tissues of the victim; 3) privileged - murder with mitigating circumstances (Art. 106, 107, 108 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Human life is the most important good, it is priceless. It refers to enduring universal human values. The loss of life is irreversible and irreplaceable, which is why the criminal legislation of any civilized state considers the murder of a person, with the exception of its privileged types, to be a particularly serious crime. According to Part 1 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, murder is the intentional infliction of death on another person. The object of murder is formed by social relations that ensure the safety of citizens' lives . The generic object of murder is a person’s personality, the immediate object is a person’s life. The beginning of a person’s life is the beginning of physiological childbirth, that is, the moment when any part of the child’s body emerges from the mother’s womb. Causing the death of a child before this point cannot be classified as murder. Therefore, the murder of a pregnant woman (regardless of the stage of pregnancy) should be considered not as the murder of two persons, but as the murder of a woman who is known to be pregnant by the perpetrator. The end of life is considered to be the onset of biological death, when, following cardiac arrest, the supply of oxygen to the cerebral cortex ceases, which entails irreversible changes - the disintegration of cells of the cerebral cortex and brain death within 5-7 minutes after cardiac arrest. Therefore, the clinical death of a person at the moment of cardiac arrest cannot be considered as the death of a person in the criminal legal sense of the word, because at this time resuscitation of the person and his return to life is not excluded. The objective side of murder is characterized by an act in the form of an action or (in quite rare cases cases) - inaction. For the crime to be completed, the consequence must occur—the death of a person. In this case, a causal relationship must be established between the action and the consequence. The objective side of murder is the unlawful deprivation of the life of another person. The absence in the law of an indication of the illegality of the act in question is a significant gap in it, since, for example, it is not a crime to take the life of another person in a state of necessary defense, or to carry out a death sentence. Murder refers to crimes with the so-called material elements. Complete murder occurs in cases where death resulted from the act of the perpetrator. When establishing a causal relationship in murder cases, it is necessary to keep in mind the following: - the actions (inaction) of the subject preceding the occurrence of death can be recognized as its cause only if at the time of their commission they were a necessary condition for its occurrence, i.e. . such a condition, without which, death would not have occurred; - these actions (inaction) at the moment of their commission must create a real possibility of death. When clarifying the objective side of the murder, it is also necessary to pay attention to the place, time, methods and instruments, the whole situation of committing this crimes. Some methods of committing murder are taken into account by the legislator as an aggravating circumstance for the crime (special cruelty, generally dangerous method). From the subjective side, murder is an intentional crime. Intention includes taking the life of another person. However, qualifications are not affected if the perpetrator wanted to kill one person, but actually caused the death of another. The subjective side of murder is characterized only by intentional guilt. Intention in this case can be both direct and indirect. A person realizes that he is committing an act (action or inaction) that is dangerous to the life of another person, foresees the possibility or inevitability of the death of the victim and desires (with direct intent) or consciously allows death to occur or is indifferent to it (with indirect intent). The subject of a crime under Art. 105 of the Criminal Code, there may be a sane individual who has reached the age of 14. For other crimes against life, responsibility begins at the age of 16.