Humiliating the dignity of people and insulting them is, in the new conditions, a fairly common offense. Any conflict situations are not uncommon at the moment and it should be remembered that during a quarrel the participants often act impulsively, use profanity, as well as expressions and actions. Intentional humiliation can be expressed not only verbally or in writing, but also in gestures, actions, etc. This year in the Russian Federation, insulting citizens will be punished, according to the Criminal Code of Russia or administrative legislation.
Insulting a person in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
A verbal insult to a person can be inflicted even by telling it to other persons, provided that it is foreseen that this insult will be transmitted to the victim. And the written form of self-insult involves humiliating the dignity of the victim in any indecent form through the use of a letter, telegram or drawings/symbols. Such an insult may be intended to be read by the victim and read by third parties. Insult through body movements without touching can be expressed in obscene gestures or spitting at the victim, etc.
When dignity is humiliated in any of these forms, there is a negative assessment of the person and for the offense it does not matter whether this assessment is false or true.
Article 130
This article for insult allows punishment with a fine of up to 40 thousand rubles and in the amount of salary or other income for a period of up to 3 months, or compulsory work for up to 120 hours, or correctional labor for up to 6 months, or restriction of freedom for up to 1 year. This article has now been canceled.
Insult contained in a speech in public, a publicly displayed work, or in the media is punishable by up to eighty thousand rubles, or by a fine in the amount of the wages and other monetary income of the convicted person for up to 6 months, or by compulsory labor.
What is the punishment for insulting a person?
Since insult has moved from the category of crimes to the category of offenses, the punishment for committing it has accordingly become much easier.
According to the Administrative Code, the maximum that can be recovered from an offender for insult, if he is an ordinary citizen and not an official or legal entity, is 3,000 rubles (from the second 30,000 rubles or 100,000 rubles, respectively).
And according to the previously effective provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for insult the following could be recovered from the perpetrator:
- a fine in the amount of 1 to 3 salaries or up to 40,000 rubles;
- impose compulsory or forced labor on him;
- restrict freedom for up to 1 year.
For public insult, a fine of up to six salaries or 80,000 rubles, forced labor or restriction of freedom of up to 2 years was provided.
Public insult to personality
Public insult is the demonstration in public, in an oral speech, in a printed work, or in the media of a message that humiliates another person. Maximum penalty for public insult in the form of a fine:
- 5,000 rubles per civilian;
- 50,000 rubles - from an official;
- 500,000 rubles – from a legal entity.
Only officials and legal entities, who will have to pay from 10,000 rubles to 50,000 rubles in the form of a fine, are liable for allowing the fact of public insult, that is, they should have stopped this behavior, but left everything to chance.
An insult expressed at a general meeting where a large number of people is present, on television, in books, newspapers and other publicly accessible printed publications will be considered public.
Insulting a person on the Internet and social networks
It is debatable whether personal insults posted on the Internet or social networks will be public. On the one hand, why not? It’s not for nothing that the Internet is called the “World Wide Web.” The information posted, including offensive information, is available to a very large number of people. And even more than just readers and viewers of the media.
Previously, courts, when considering cases of insults expressed via the Internet, classified them as public, equating all kinds of sites and pages of social networks with the media. However, recently this practice has been discouraged.
Russian legislation does not directly indicate that insult through Internet resources is public. The only exceptions are news sites that have official media status.
Let's say an insult to Ivanov I.I. – “a miser and a gossip” posted on his personal page on social networks will not be considered public. But the same information contained in one of the articles on a news site is very easy.
However, in light of recent news, online insults and trolling can now be recorded by a notary, which will make it easier to prove the insult in court.
Harassment in the workplace
It all depends where exactly the victim works. If he is a representative of the authorities, or a career military man, then his offender will have to answer for his actions according to the standards of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Provided that the victim at that moment was engaged in the performance of his official duties, that is, he was on duty, and not on a day off or on vacation.
Punishment under Article 319 includes a fine of up to 40,000 rubles, compulsory or correctional labor. Such an insult can only be of a public nature.
According to Article 336, military personnel can insult each other. Moreover, they can be in equal status or in the rank of superior and subordinate. The punishment for such an act is restriction on military service or detention in a disbat.
In other cases, liability for insult or public insult is administrative. It doesn’t matter who insulted whom: a subordinate’s boss or vice versa, colleagues - each other, a client - a service worker, the qualification of the offense will depend on whether the insult was public or not.
Sometimes it is difficult to understand qualifications.
For example, a dissatisfied customer wrote a review about the seller of a large store in a complaint book, entirely consisting of obscene and insulting words, humiliating him and undermining his business reputation. There is a victim, there is physical evidence, there are witnesses - all those who read this recording. It would seem like a common insult to personality. But an experienced lawyer can fight in court and prove that the insult is public. After all, a guest book is practically an official document accessible to any visitor.
Code of Administrative Offenses
Humiliation of a person, an article of the Code of Administrative Offenses, implies holding a person accountable. What is the article for insulting a person? Insulting a person is punishable under Article 5.61.
Article 5.61
Humiliation of human dignity, expressed in indecent form, entails a fine of up to 3 thousand rubles;
in legal persons up to 100 thousand rubles. for officials up to 30 thousand rubles;
Public insult to a person (insult in a public speech, demonstrated work/media) will force you to pay an administrative fine of up to 5 thousand rubles;
in legal persons up to 500 thousand rubles. for officials up to 50 thousand rubles;
Failure to take measures to prevent such insults in the displayed work/newspapers/other newspapers and media will entail a fine of up to 30 thousand rubles for officials and for legal entities - up to 50 thousand rubles.
Which article punishes personal insult?
Previously (until 2012), article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was provided for insulting a person.
It belonged to the category of crimes of minor gravity, and therefore the perpetrator would not suffer any harsh punishment for the insult. It is difficult to prove the guilt of the accused in court. Direct witnesses or physical evidence in the form of audio or video recordings are needed. It is especially difficult to establish the intent of the perpetrator, to prove that he insulted the victim and did not express his opinion. Recently, there have been almost no criminal cases in which the fact of insult was independently examined. They were additional episodes to cases of threats to kill, causing bodily harm or harm to health. And gradually they completely disappeared.
Currently, there are only two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for insulting a person; the victims in them are special subjects. Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for criminal liability for insulting a government official, and Article 336 for insulting a military personnel.
Since the beginning of 2012, insulting a person is not a crime, but a misdemeanor provided for in Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. There are 3 parts:
- for individual insult to personality;
- for public;
- for failure to take measures to prevent public insult.
Article in the Civil Code
In addition, in accordance with Article 150 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, dignity and a good name are intangible benefits that belong to all citizens from birth. This gives you grounds to file a claim in court and seek compensation for moral damages. It is important to understand that an article for insulting a person will allow you to receive monetary compensation as compensation for moral damage.
Article 152
A citizen of the Russian Federation has the right to demand in court a refutation of information discrediting his dignity if the person who disseminated this information cannot prove that it is true. The refutation must be made in the same way as information about the citizen was disseminated.
The person in respect of whom the specified information was disseminated may demand, along with a refutation, the publication of his response. If information expressed that discredits honor and reputation is contained in a document coming from an organization, this document is subject to replacement or revocation.
In cases where information discrediting one’s dignity and reputation has become widely known, the offended person has the right to demand the removal of this information, or the prohibition of further dissemination of false information by confiscating all material media containing such information, if it is impossible to remove the defamatory information without destroying these copies .
How to act when insulted
Public insult is defined by Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as humiliation of a citizen’s honor by using offensive words in an obscene form. An offended person has the right to file a complaint against the offender with law enforcement agencies. Upon the commission of this crime, a criminal case will be opened. The court will decide on a preventive measure for the accused.
Public insult is a private accusation. A criminal case can be opened against the offender only if the victim has written a corresponding statement to the police.
It is possible to drop charges against a person only if the parties to the conflict reconcile. However, it is legal to do this only before the court goes to the deliberation room. When the verdict is passed, reconciliation between the parties will become impossible, and the sanction chosen by the court for the offender will be mandatory.
Insulting a person in judicial practice
Every year thousands of people are tried under this article. Previously, there was a criminal article for insult, but today it has been abolished.
Examples from judicial practice
The magistrate of the precinct No. at <address> of the Republic of Kalmykia on June 22, 2011 found the citizen guilty of an offense and punished with a fine of 1,000 rubles.
The Uisky District Court on August 12, 2013 found E.P. Vostrikov guilty of an administrative offense under Part 1 of Art. 5. 61 and he was given an administrative penalty of a fine of 2,000 rubles. The citizen, not agreeing with this decision of the magistrate, further appealed it.
Novocheboksarsk City Court (Chuvashia). By a judge’s decision dated 02.02.2015, he found the citizen of the Russian Federation guilty of an administrative offense, part 1 of Art. 5. 61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and sentenced her to a fine of <data taken> rubles.
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