Amnesty for criminal cases in 2021 under Article 84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

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84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of the Russian Federation “Amnesty” reveals the main theses, amendments, the likelihood of release from liability in the law in criminal matters, the influence of the State Duma of the Russian state on the approval of the act, the release of citizens serving sentences. Multi-channel free hotline Legal advice on criminal law. Every day from 9.00 to 21.00

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Article 84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Amnesty”

To date, an updated edition has been published with changes or a different revolution of Art. 84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian State:

1. The amnesty will be declared by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia in relation to an unspecified number of citizens.
2. Forgiveness under an amnesty from a citizen who has committed an offense is able to be released from execution of punishment in criminal matters.

People who have become doomed to prison for carrying out a criminal act, ways to free themselves from negative sanctions, or they can be given a sentence that is shortened or replaced by the most lenient type of punishment, which is considered in the first reading.

Such citizens are able to be exempted from another type of sanctions. For people who have already served their sentences in prison, a decision on amnesty can remove their criminal record.

There will be no amnesty

They talked about the upcoming amnesty last year, linking it with the anniversary of the Victory, but nothing has changed since then. According to Pavel Krasheninnikov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Building and Legislation, every time amnesty projects are submitted, they list the same articles of the Criminal Code, therefore, from the point of view of the state and justice in general, they can be decriminalized. But even here everything is not easy.

“Amnesties are held periodically. But they are announced only when legislators come to an understanding of which articles, which circle of convicts fall under them and whether there is a need for this amnesty. With harmonious legislation and fair practice, there is no need to conduct them regularly,” says criminal lawyer Sergei Kolomiets.

Rumors that the 2020 amnesty would not take place appeared in the midst of the pandemic. According to State Duma deputy Alexander Yakubovsky, to whom our legal center contacted for comment, the parliament’s priority is to consider measures of social support for the population in connection with the coronavirus. The amnesty project will be returned to as soon as issues requiring immediate response are addressed.

“According to a rough estimate, 10-15 thousand people can be released from criminal liability under an amnesty. We are talking about people who are behind bars for the first time, have committed a minor crime, and have young children (women, men, if they are raising children alone). The amnesty will apply to citizens who committed a crime for the first time, one might say, by mistake. It is intended to apply it to persons who took part in hostilities, performed military or official duty in Afghanistan or other states, who were awarded state awards of the USSR and the Russian Federation, as well as to liquidators of the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster,” explains criminal lawyer Sergei Kolomiets .

Possible relaxations could only apply to those citizens who have committed crimes of minor gravity and their release does not pose a danger to others. Those convicted of murder, crimes against minors and other serious and especially serious crimes, as well as repeat offenders and violators of the regime in places of deprivation of liberty will not be eligible for amnesty. This is not the amnesty of 1953, when in connection with the death of Stalin a huge number of professional criminals were released.

“Two projects have been submitted to parliamentarians for consideration. One is about declaring an amnesty. The second is about the order of application. First come the age criteria; marital status; crimes that a person has committed; by the presence of children whom he raises alone. The second point is who the amnesty will not apply to. There is a large list of articles; people convicted under them are not subject to this amnesty. Any citizen who falls under the criteria written in the first draft resolution declaring an amnesty can already count on release (of course, if the draft resolution is adopted). The procedure is outlined in the second draft resolution,” says criminal lawyer Sergei Kolomiets.

Comments on Article 84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

There are the following comments on this article:

1. The publication of decrees on pardons occurs by legislative authorities due to significant changes in the life of the state. Such changes in some cases are indicated by unbiased formed circumstances, that is, moments that appear in the surrounding social, financial and legal environment. They initially fall under the interest of a vast mass of residents of the countries. When the authorities of the state can take into account such situations without changing the structure and characteristics of criminal legislation, but through release from retribution, weakening sanctions, improving the life of the convicted person in another way, then it raises the question of the importance of establishing a certain normative legal document that can affect the life a huge number of citizens who committed the offense.
2. The pardon is proclaimed by the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia on the basis of paragraph “e” of Part 1 of Article 103 of the Constitution. Together with this documentation of pardon, it is considered a certain exception to the principles of fragmentation of government bodies, personal negative sanction, and conflicts with Article 10, Part 1, Articles 19, 45, 46, 118 of the Constitution.
3. The document on pardon is represented by the documentation of the highest authority, which stores regulations that exempt from execution of punishment in criminal law, negative sanctions or weaken punishment in relation to lists of categories of people who have committed unlawful acts in a particular republic.
4. The entry into the Criminal Code of Russia from 01.01.1997 does not affect the dynamics of the end of the Criminal Code due to the amnesty documentation, since the issuance of such acts is carried out arbitrarily, regardless of the provisions of the Criminal Code and is not associated with ideological principles in criminal law. And with moments in history, dates, reforms, phenomena. A criminal amnesty is considered a life-saving “circle” that pulls the investigative and judicial authorities, as well as the criminal and executive systems, out of instability in the economy and law.
5. This bill in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation considers a pardon agreement as the basis for release from liability, from the main or secondary type of sanctions, changing one punishment to another, reducing the term of negative sanctions, release from results.
6. Certain conditions for the use of pardon are not provided for by either criminal, procedural, or executive law. Such specifics are carried out directly during the pardon and vary depending on the reason for accepting any act.
7. The wording used by legal authorities “acceptance of pardon documentation” shows an incomprehensible period of time. The adoption situation drags on from discussions and ratifications until the law comes into force. It is precisely because of this that it is necessary to clarify that the act of amnesty in criminal law applies only to those citizens who committed crimes before the situation when such a document entered into force of law.
8. The period of influence of documents on appealing a sentence is strictly determined. It is set for six months from the time of their official publication. Basically, this procedure turns out to be without a deadline, since questions about the use of each act of pardon constantly appear even after six months.
9. Since the adoption of a pardon falls within the competence of the highest body, the norms of the act are considered mandatory for implementation by each relevant body.
10. The most important feature that distinguishes a resolution from a pardon agreement is that it is used in relation not to a specific citizen, but to a corresponding group of people who commit criminal acts of a certain category.
11. When applying an amnesty to citizens who have committed long-term offenses, it is necessary to accurately determine the time of their commission. The continuation of a crime begins with the situation of the crime and ends with the moment of the actions of the perpetrator, which are aimed at its completion, or the moment of the onset of a situation that prevents the commission of crimes.
12. A citizen who is released from punishment in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation by virtue of an act of pardon is unconvicted, precisely because of this, his commission of a similar or other crime and jurisdiction for it after using the document does not create a recidivism of the criminal act. For citizens who have served in prison, a criminal record can be removed by an act of pardon.
13. The main amount of completed criminal cases by force of law is assigned to cases that are interdependent with criminal acts of minor gravity. At the same time, cases connected with the origin of more serious criminal events may be terminated, which cannot be considered justified.
14. The use of an agreement is realistic not only in a situation where a citizen does not file an objection to the end of the case, but also if this citizen has the status of a person who is accused or suspected. At the same time, the use of amnesty acts contrary to the law is most often carried out not only before a person is charged, but also before he is brought in as a suspect.
15. If negative sanctions for the defendant were mitigated by a document on the abolition of punishment, the judicial authorities, using criminal and early releases from places of imprisonment and from punishment or replacing it with a mild one, are obliged to calculate the actually served part of the negative sanctions.

Above are the main comments, main news and excerpts from the article, reflecting the essence of the acts applied to persons accused of or serving a prison sentence.

Commentary to Art. 84 Criminal Code

1. Amnesty is a complex multi-sectoral institution of so-called state forgiveness. The amnesty is declared by the State Duma in relation to an individually indefinite circle of persons (clause “g”, Part 1, Article 103 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation). In addition to the amnesty act itself, the State Duma usually adopts an additional resolution on the procedure for applying this act, which clarifies issues related to its application (the bodies entrusted with the implementation of the amnesty are determined, the content of the terms used in the amnesty act is revealed, etc. .).

2. Amnesty acts usually apply to criminal acts committed before its adoption or entry into force. The circle of persons who are subject to a specific amnesty is determined in the amnesty act itself by listing them in as much detail as possible (for example, minors; women who have committed a crime for the first time; combat veterans; disabled people; persons convicted of crimes of a certain category or who have been assigned a certain type of and the amount of punishment, etc.). Typically, several such criteria are specified.

At the same time, amnesties that apply to a narrower circle of people have recently begun to be declared more and more often. The adoption of such acts, as a rule, is caused by the current political situation in the country (for example, the State Duma Resolution of June 6, 2003 “On declaring an amnesty in connection with the adoption of the Constitution of the Chechen Republic”).

3. Acts on amnesty usually indicate persons to whom it does not apply. For convicts in respect of whom, along with punishment, compulsory medical measures were imposed and subject to release from punishment, the amnesty act is usually applied after completing an intensive course of treatment.

4. Amnesty does not mean the rehabilitation of a person and is only forgiveness for committing a crime. Therefore, release from criminal liability in connection with the amnesty act is possible only if there are no objections to this on the part of the accused. If there are such objections, the proceedings in the case continue in the usual manner and are brought to trial, in which the court decides either an acquittal or a conviction, but with release from punishment under the amnesty act.

5. The amnesty act entails certain criminal legal consequences established in criminal law: exemption from criminal liability; release from punishment; expungement of criminal record.

6. The amnesty act is a mandatory and unconditional basis for mitigating the fate of the persons specified in it (exemption from criminal liability, from punishment, reduction of sentence, etc.). This basis does not depend on the discretion of the bodies entrusted with the application of the amnesty (bodies of inquiry, investigation, court, bodies of execution of punishment of the corresponding type), and is not made dependent on the subsequent behavior of the person or on any other conditions.

Another commentary on Article 84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

In addition to the main comments, you can highlight additional excerpts from the article, namely:

1. An act of pardon is a document of a government body that terminates or limits within the strictest specific limits the use of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to specific lists of personally undetected citizens.
2. The interaction of documents in the draft laws is associated with situations of different characteristics, namely data characterizing a citizen who has committed an offense, which in the field of criminal law does not make sense when qualifying actions, but is taken into account in the process of implementing sanctions and exemption from it, and much more.
3. Pardon can be based both on liability in criminal law and on sanctions and conviction. Freedom can be realized at the moment of implementation of the uninitiated cases contained in the act of pardon, completed according to plan.
4. The resolution establishing pardon is most often accompanied by a document indicating the moment of use of the act of pardon. Its main setting is considered to be the legal consolidation of the mechanism for release from liability in legal terms.
5. In such acts, there is a selection of a list of citizens for whom pardon is not extended until the last minute.

Thus, Art. 84 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the updated version talks about the provisions of forgiveness, and outlines the procedure for accepting an amnesty by government bodies.