ST 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
1. Infecting another person with a venereal disease by a person who knew that he had this disease is 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 compulsory labor for a period of up to four hundred and eighty hours. , or correctional labor for up to two years, or arrest for up to six months.
2. The same act committed against two or more persons or against a minor is punishable by a fine in the amount of up to three hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of the wages or other income of the convicted person for a period of up to two years, or by forced labor for a period of up to five years. , or imprisonment for a term of up to two years.
Venereal diseases
Venereal diseases (Latin venus - the ancient Roman goddess of love Venus) diseases are infectious diseases whose main method of transmission is sexual. They are distinguished by the ease of movement of the virus from person to person and a high degree of resistance to immune and antibacterial therapy.
In particular, these are:
- gonorrhea;
- syphilis;
- papillomavirus;
- donovanosis;
- chancroid;
- granuloma venereum, etc.
What ways can you protect yourself from infection?
To protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), you should follow some simple rules:
- refuse promiscuity;
- use special methods of protection during sexual intercourse;
- periodically undergo preventive examinations by a specialist;
- If you have a disease, you should immediately notify your partner and family members, since some diseases can be transmitted at home.
By following these rules, you don’t have to worry about the occurrence of a sexually transmitted disease, since the likelihood of this is too low.
Sources
- https://AllWrestling.ru/ugolovnyj-kodeks/121-statya-ugolovnogo-kodeksa-rf.html
- https://mup-info.com/stata-121-uk-rf/
- https://ukrf-stat.ru/statya-121-uk-rf-zarazhenie-venericheskoj-boleznyu/
- https://ruukrf.ru/st-121-uk-rf
- https://www.zakonrf.info/uk/121/
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Infection with a venereal disease
Infection occurs when:
- sexual intercourse;
- kisses;
- eating from the same container with a sick person;
- failure to comply with personal hygiene rules.
Proof of a person’s knowledge of his venereological disease is his contacting medical institutions with such a problem and subsequent confirmation of such a diagnosis. These can be certificates, extracts from the doctor’s journal, notes in the epicrisis, laboratory records, sheets of prescribed therapy.
Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation introduces criminal penalties for infecting third parties only for those venereological patients who knew about the presence of the disease. This does not apply to the rest.
The culprit and his intent
In matters relating to Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, intent and the desire for negative consequences are put at the forefront. This can be either banal negligence in relation to one’s health and the health of others, or a feeling of revenge: “I’m sick, but why are others better?”
Here we can assume that a person has a mental disorder of varying severity. An ordinary adequate person will never deliberately go out to infect as many people as possible, but, on the contrary, will try to protect loved ones and acquaintances from danger.
Thus, the difficulty for any investigator, and then the prosecutor and judge, is the need to prove that the perpetrator had intent. The resolution of the Supreme Court of the USSR (commentary to the article) contains a direct indication of the need to find evidence of the guilt of the defendant.
Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: detailed analysis
Let's take a closer look at this article:
- Object of the crime: personal health safety.
- Objective side: inaction, action that ultimately led to infection. The method of infection does not play any role: sexual or household. The latter confirms the malicious violation of the standards of personal hygiene in everyday life by venereological patients. At the same time, sexual transmission significantly prevails over household transmission. The consent of the injured person to contract a sexually transmitted disease is not a reason for excluding liability. The nature of the disease, features and methods of its treatment also do not affect the punishability.
- Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: the corpus delicti is material. The fact of the end of the crime is the direct infection of another person with the disease. A clear “cause-effect” connection must be made between the action/inaction of a venereological patient and the fact of infection.
- Subjective side: guilt can be either conscious or careless, and intent can be both direct and indirect. A citizen knows that if he has this disease, it is strictly forbidden to engage in sexual relations or ignore the rules of personal hygiene, and he foresees the consequences of such behavior. But at the same time, he is indifferent to the consequences of his actions or consciously desires their occurrence. Criminal frivolity (the patient arrogantly believes that the consequences in his case will not manifest itself) also does not exempt from responsibility.
- Subject: a person who has reached the age of 16 and is aware of his or her venereal disease.
- Qualifying type: when two or more people are infected, it does not matter whether they were infected at the same time or at different times. Fact of infection of a minor: the subject of the crime must admit/know that the victim is under 18 years of age.
Witnesses
The perpetrator’s knowledge of the presence of the disease is established based on witness testimony:
— the victim;
- acquaintances of the culprit;
- medical institution.
If necessary, if the patient did not go to the doctor, but based on some signs he knew that he had a sexually transmitted disease, an examination is prescribed.
Responsibility for a crime
Art. 121, part 1, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation introduces the following penalties for infecting one victim with a venereal disease:
- payment of a fine of up to 200 thousand rubles;
- payment of a fine equal to the wages of the convicted person or his other income for eighteen months;
- mandatory work: 180-240 hours;
- correctional labor: 1-2 years;
- arrest: 3-6 months.
Second part of Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - infection of two or more people:
- payment of a fine: 200-300 thousand rubles;
- payment of a fine equivalent to the monthly income of the convicted person for two years;
- maximum two-year imprisonment.
Disposition
Infection with a sexually transmitted disease involves performing actions that are directly aimed at transmitting the virus (pathogens). This can be either sexual intercourse or the use of the same dishes, clothing or even hygiene items.
Article 121 of the Criminal Code provides for punishment in two parts:
- infection by a person who knew about the presence of the disease;
- infection of two or more people, as well as transmission of the virus to minors.
In relation to children and adolescents, the law says that the perpetrator must know not only that he has an STD, but also the fact that the infected person is under eighteen years of age.
Responsibility for the act, which is provided for in Article 121, begins at the age of 16. Here we can assume that if the culprit has not yet reached the age of majority, then he must at least be registered with the police as a socially dangerous element of society.
Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with comments
Clarifications and distinctions from similar crimes:
- the article does not consider HIV infection: this much more serious crime falls under Article 122 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation with a more serious punishment for the perpetrator;
- Article 121 of the Russian Criminal Code does not contain information about liability for refusal of medical treatment;
- the crime completely excludes the factor of negligence - the guilty person is aware of the presence of the disease;
- if a person tried to infect someone with a venereal disease, but the crime did not take place due to a number of circumstances, this is a criminal offense of attempted infection (Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
- excludes the guilt of a person due to an erroneous medical report that misled him with information about a complete cure for a venereological disease;
- silence about the source of infection, persons having contact with him under Art. 6.1. The Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation calls for an administrative fine of 5-10 minimum wages.
- the harm caused by venereological diseases is assessed as mild; In the event of serious and moderate consequences for health, the crime is considered under Art. 111, 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
- a sick person who has been diagnosed with a venereological disease signs a warning document of the established form, where he is notified of criminal punishment under Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in case of infection of another person with a disease.
Qualification of the consequences of infection in the form of harm to health
Slight harm to health . If it is established that, due to deliberate infection with a venereal disease, the victim suffered minor harm to health, then additional qualifications under Art. 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is not required, since Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is special and this norm is given preference based on the competition of norms.
Moderate and serious harm to health . If serious or moderate harm to health is caused, then the responsibility of the perpetrator arises under the totality of Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and, accordingly, Art. 111 or 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Infection as a consequence of rape . If infection with a venereal disease occurs during rape or the commission of violent acts of a sexual nature, then the act is qualified accordingly under paragraph “d” of Part 2 of Art. 131 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation or clause “c” of Part 2 of Art. 132 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, providing for such a qualifying circumstance, and additional qualifications under Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is not required.
Prosecution
The infecting person should be held accountable in the following way:
- Submit an application to a venereology clinic or other medical institution with the obligatory mention of the person suspected of infection.
- Based on this application, the specified citizen will be subject to forced examination.
- Through the investigator, the originals of the necessary medical documents from the clinics where the suspect and the victim were treated are requested to be submitted to the court.
- Based on the medical histories of these individuals: the onset of the disease, the time intervals of infection, the course of the disease, the court makes a decision on the involvement of the suspect in contracting a venereological disease.
Lack of evidence
Exemption of the accused from criminal liability for an act, which is a disposition of Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, also exists. In this case, the court must collect evidence that directly indicates that the suspect is healthy. Here we are talking about the lack of evidence that a person is sick. This is directly evidenced by the commentary to the article about the defendant’s uncontested confidence in his health.
Thus, if a person submits a statement indicating that a specific person is to blame for the infection, and that person is completely healthy, here one should look for a third party who caused everything.
Possibility of exemption from punishment
Exemption from the liability prescribed by Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is carried out under Article 79 of the same Code - “Exemption from criminal liability in connection with the reconciliation of the parties.” A prerequisite here is absolute reconciliation of the parties: the guilty and the victim, as well as complete atonement for those who committed the crime.
Many lawyers consider the application of Art. 79 in this case is quite contradictory: the person who infected the victim who has reconciled with him leaves the area of observation of the investigation. There is a high probability of re-infecting new people with it.
Today, venereological diseases, unfortunately, are among the most common in Russia and in the world. The main method of infection is sexual. Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation introduces liability for an already committed crime, infection with a disease that can lead to extremely negative consequences for the health and life of the victim. In the case of sexually transmitted diseases, it is much easier and simpler to prevent them and protect yourself from dubious sexual contacts.
Sources of infection
Not only patients are subject to criminal liability during the development and treatment of the disease, but also during observation. It is no secret that those with STDs are put on special medical registration. As long as a person is on it, he is automatically considered a carrier and is conditionally dangerous to others.
Doctors do not have the right to keep patients in a medical institution, so here the hope is only on the wards themselves, on their consciousness. It is not for nothing that when a new case of the disease is identified, dermatovenerologists check (according to the patient) with whom he was in contact. This is necessary to prevent illness in others and to determine the source of that person's infection.
