The main source of criminal law in the Russian Federation is the Criminal Code, by looking into which you can determine how much they give for killing a person. This codified legal act regulates in detail aspects related to the protection of such the most valuable object of crime as life.
Life is an irreplaceable benefit, the loss of which cannot be reversed, and therefore causing death is called the most serious crime among those directed against a person, and its commission entails serious responsibility.
Article 105 part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - “simple murder”
The theory of the science of criminal law determines the classification of three main types of this crime:
- simple;
- qualified;
- privileged.
The first part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code reveals the meaning of the term simple murder and tells us that this is the causing of death to another person, and intentionally. This refers to any action aimed at taking the life of another person.
It is assumed that the killer must have the intent to kill - the subjective side. That is, if the perpetrator commits grievous bodily harm, but at the same time could not calculate the strength and inflict too severe damage, and as a result, the victim dies after some time from the injuries received.
These acts, with a correctly built line of defense and the availability of an appropriate evidence base, can be qualified as grievous bodily harm that led to the death of a person.
Good to know: the object is social relations in the field of protecting human life.
Altai farmer will get 8.5 years for killing his partner
The jury found that the man deserved leniency because he had suffered humiliation from his partner for a long time
37-year-old resident of the village of Shipunovo Vladimir Kuzmenko, the head of one of the peasant farms, received 8.5 years in a maximum security colony for the murder of his partner. This was reported by the press service of the Altai Regional Court.
The jury found that on July 26, 2022, Kuzmenko took a hunting rifle, arrived at the production base in the village of Shipunovo, chose a convenient place and, after waiting for his partner, shot at him. As a result of the incident, the man died on the spot.
He found the keys in the personal belongings of the murdered man and drove the car into the base area. While drunk, the farmer then drove the car to the 176th kilometer of the Barnaul-Rubtsovsk highway and abandoned it on the side of the road.
However, the jury found that the killer deserved leniency due to regular insults and humiliation from the victim. The court also took into account the admission of guilt, repentance, assistance in solving the crime and the fact that it was his first time breaking the law as mitigating circumstances. The sentence was also influenced by the fact that the convict had three children. However, the court did not find any aggravating circumstances in the case.
The man was acquitted of robbery charges with the right to rehabilitation.
In favor of the minor son of the deceased, the court recovered 1.5 million rubles from the convicted person.
The verdict can be appealed.
Let us remind you that at the end of July the police received a report of the unknown disappearance of a 39-year-old resident of the Shipunovsky district. A few days later, the body of the missing man with a gunshot wound was found in the Charysh River. Suspicion fell on a local farmer.
It is known that for several years the individual entrepreneur took loans from the victim at interest for his business. However, the farm did not generate the necessary income and debts accumulated. The man suggested that the entrepreneur carry out bankruptcy proceedings, and before that, transfer all existing property to him, to which he received consent.
The men agreed to meet at the production base. Kuzmenko fired a gun at his partner as soon as he got out of the car. After making sure that he was dead, the farmer wrapped the body in a chain-link net and threw it into the river.
Later, a man’s body was found in the Charysh River, near the village of Beloglazovo, Shipunovsky District.
05 August, 17:02
A man's body wrapped in a net was found in Charysh, Altai.
It is unknown how long the search for the man lasted, but it is obvious that his disappearance and death are criminal in nature
Article 105 part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - qualified murder
The maximum term of imprisonment faces people who have committed a crime with aggravating circumstances, that is, qualified murder.
These types of crimes include, for example, contract crimes involving two or more persons, pregnant women (if the fact of pregnancy is known to the killer in advance), etc.
For qualified causing of death, a prison sentence ranges from 8 to 20 years, and life imprisonment can also be imposed. Additional punishment is restriction of freedom from one to two years.
Murder of a person as a separate article
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation not only provides a definition, but also considers the murder of a person with possible aggravating circumstances.
The following information can be found in Article 105:
- Part one of this article examines the definition itself . According to the text of the article, murder is the intentional violent deprivation of the life of another person. In the same part you can find information about how many years they give for killing a person if it was committed without aggravating circumstances. This period ranges from 6 to 15 years. In addition, the term itself may be followed by restriction of freedom for another two years.
- The second part of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is more interesting . It is she who considers possible motives for murder and aggravating circumstances. Thus, if a person was deprived of life on the grounds of religious, racial or political activity, then the punishment will increase and will range from 8 to 20 years. A similar sentence is given to those who killed two or more people, committed murder in a manner dangerous to others, or while performing hooligan acts. This part also covers murders committed as part of a criminal group, murders with the aim of stealing the victim’s organs, or committed to hide another crime. For such offences, the perpetrator faces both life imprisonment and the death penalty.
Thus, the sentence given for killing another person is always very long. In this case, neither fines, nor correctional labor, nor any other penalties are applied.
Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation gives clear boundaries to the crime described and not every case involving murder falls under it.
Term for murder by negligence
Causing death by negligence is not called murder by law, since it is impossible to kill a person through negligence (murder presupposes the intent to take the life of another person, that is, intentionally).
Therefore, the corresponding article is called causing death by negligence. In such cases, the punishment is much lighter; in particular, punishments ranging from correctional labor for up to two years to imprisonment for up to two years can be imposed.
The main and only difference from ordinary causing of death is the form of guilt of the perpetrator.
It is worth noting: the practice of court decisions on this qualification is contradictory, because in order to establish unpremeditation, the court needs not only to study all the circumstances of the case to the smallest detail, but also to clearly define and establish with the help of evidence the true intent of the perpetrator.
Individual cases
There are several unique cases in which ordinary citizens are rarely blamed. However, for a more complete picture of the terms for murder, we will consider them too. So, the special articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that affect the violent deprivation of a person’s life can be considered:
- Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Terrorism. Up to 20 years in prison if one person died. In case of death of a group of people, the term can be increased to 30 years, and also replaced with life imprisonment or the death penalty;
- Article 206 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Hostage taking. If an attacker takes a hostage and kills him while committing a crime, he faces up to 20 years in prison. If a group of hostages dies, the sentence will be changed to life imprisonment;
- Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Sabotage. If the purpose of sabotage was to take life or cause harm to people, then the punishment will be from 15 to 20 years in prison;
- Article 277 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Taking the life of a politician based on his work. The punishment will be from 12 years of imprisonment up to life imprisonment. Absolutely similar penalties are provided for the murder of a judge or law enforcement officer;
- Article 357 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Genocide, namely the deliberate destruction of a group of people united on some basis. The penalty is 20 years in prison, but usually the death penalty or life imprisonment is applied.
Responsibility for the murder of a newborn child
One of the privileged elements of deprivation of life is the murder of a mother of her newborn child.
There is an opinion that the process of childbirth or hormonal changes can so affect a woman’s body that in some rare cases it leads to negative consequences in the form of killing the newborn.
This can happen either immediately after childbirth or later (up to four weeks) in a traumatic situation or psychological disorder.
Sometimes, as a result of childbirth, a woman in labor may develop a psychological state as a result of which the mother, without realizing her actions, can cause harm to her child that is incompatible with life. Such a woman can be imprisoned for 4 years.
But the law also provides for less serious types of punishment, such as restriction of freedom or forced labor for up to 4 years. A suspended sentence manifests itself in restriction of freedom.
Term for murder in the heat of passion
A privileged element of murder, separately regulated from Article 105 Part 3 of the Criminal Code, is also a state of strong emotional excitement, called passion.
An affected state occurs in the perpetrator as a result of violence or, for example, immoral actions committed by the victim.
In such a state, such a strong psychophysiological reaction occurs in the body that it does not understand what it is doing, its assessment of what is happening is impaired, and unconsciously it can perform actions that it would never have committed in its normal state.
The punishment for this crime is less: imprisonment for up to three years or other types of punishment, such as:
- correctional labor (up to 2 years);
- restriction of freedom (up to 3 years);
- forced labor (up to 3 years).
Murder in excess of necessary defense measures
Article 108 provides for another privileged offense, Article 105 - murder, which is committed by a person while trying to defend himself from the unlawful actions of another person, but in excess of measures in order to defend himself.
In this situation, the guilty person commits murder in conditions where he performs socially useful actions, for example, defending himself or other members of society from the illegal actions of the criminal.
But as a result of these actions, he did not calculate their strength and caused excessive harm to this criminal, as a result of which he died.
The sanction part of the article specifies deprivation, restriction of freedom, correctional or forced labor, up to 2 years.
Exceeding the limits of necessary defense
The terms of punishment provided for exceeding the limits of self-defense are based on clarification of all the circumstances under which such an act took place.
The limit of necessary defense according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is considered to be the infliction of bodily harm to a citizen, which resulted in death as a result of the inconsistency of the current situation.
That is, causing damage (the consequence is death) with the necessary defense against violence, which did not pose a danger to human health and life.
The term of imprisonment in this case, according to current legislation, provides for liability in the form of detention for at least 2 years or punishment in the form of 2 years of correctional labor, depending on aggravating circumstances.
Term for contract murder
Causing death for hire is understood as causing death for the purpose of obtaining material gain.
In this case, the corpus delicti presupposes a mandatory division of responsibilities between a group of accomplices, that is, the presence of a customer and a performer.
The offense itself is qualified, that is, the punishment is higher than for simple causing death - 8-20 years or lifelong.
Practice shows that customers will be given from 8 to 12 years, and performers - from 10 to 15 years.
Murder as an aggravating circumstance
Murder is not always treated as a separate crime. In some cases, variants of murder that arose from another offense are considered. Moreover, as a rule, such aggravating circumstances are divided into two types: “with murder by negligence” and “with the intent to murder.” There are quite a lot of such articles, and it makes no sense to consider them all. Let us only note that the presence of such a factor as causing death always leads to the same result - capital punishment is imposed for a crime , and consequences such as a fine or restriction of freedom are removed from the list of possible evidence.
How much do they get for killing a person by a minor?
For a crime such as deprivation of human life, the perpetrator will be held accountable under criminal law upon reaching the age of 14.
That is, a minor from the age of 14 already bears responsibility for committing such a serious crime at the same level as adults, because he is already aware of the social danger of such acts.
There is no separate article for this composition in the code. But it is believed that age will be a mitigating factor when making a decision regarding a person under 14 years of age.
It happens that upon reaching the age of criminal responsibility, a person will still not be held responsible due to mental developmental characteristics (Part 3 of Article 20 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
