Commentary to statti 121. Umisne heavy bodily care

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the latest edition:

Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Infection with a venereal disease

1. Infection of another person with a venereal disease by a person who knew about the presence of this disease, -

shall be 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 term of up to four hundred and eighty hours, or by corrective labor for a term of up to two years, or by arrest for a term of up to six months.

2. The same act committed against two or more persons or against a minor, -

shall be 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 term of up to five years, or by imprisonment for a term of up to two years.

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Comments on Article 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Infection with a sexually transmitted disease belongs to the group of non-violent crimes against health.

Sexually transmitted diseases are part of the concept of sexually transmitted diseases.

There are about twenty-five species of them in the world. “Classic” sexually transmitted diseases include: donovanosis (granuloma venereum or granuloma inguinale); gonorrhea; soft chancroid (chancroid); syphilis; venereal lymphogranulomatosis (lymphogranuloma). “New” sexually transmitted diseases are infections of the genitourinary system with predominant damage to the genital organs: candidiasis; chlamydia; genital herpes; mycoplasmosis; bacterial vaginosis (or gardnerellosis); trichomoniasis, trichomoniasis; papillomavirus infection, papilloma, HPV or genital warts; ureaplasmosis; urogenital shegillosis of homosexuals; cytomegalovirus; nonspecific urethritis.

Infection with other, non-venereal diseases, including those that are socially significant and dangerous to others (for example, cholera, leprosy, tuberculosis, etc.), cannot be qualified under Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but depending on the consequences and form of guilt, it may entail criminal liability for causing harm to health under Art. Art. 111, 112, 115, 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Object of crime . The direct object of the crime is the health of a specific victim who was infected by another person with a sexually transmitted disease.

Infection with a sexually transmitted disease means the transmission of this disease by a person who knew that he had such a disease to another person.

The victim of a crime can be any person, including those infected with a venereal disease different from the one with which the perpetrator infected him.

The consent of the victim to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease is not a basis for releasing the perpetrator from criminal liability, except in cases where reconciliation has been reached between the perpetrator and the victim.

If two persons suffer from different sexually transmitted diseases and infect each other mutually, then both of them must bear criminal liability for this.

The objective side of the crime is expressed in the act in the form of action or inaction, the consequence of which is the infection of another person with a venereal disease.

The qualification of the offense is not affected by the type of sexually transmitted disease, the duration of treatment, as well as the methods of infection : it can be different, for example, sexual intercourse, other actions of a sexual nature, the patient’s failure to comply with hygiene rules in the family, at home, at work, etc.

The crime is material and is considered completed if the victim actually falls ill with a venereal disease. Creating a danger of contracting a venereal disease does not constitute this crime.

The subjective side of contracting a venereal disease is characterized by guilt in the form of direct or indirect intent or criminal frivolity. The subject is aware of the social danger of infecting another person with a venereal disease, foresees the possibility or inevitability of infection and desires (with direct intent) or consciously admits the fact of infection or is indifferent to this fact (with indirect intent). When committing a crime out of frivolity, the perpetrator foresees the possibility of infecting the victim, but arrogantly hopes to prevent the consequences (for example, uses contraceptives during sexual intercourse). A negligent attitude to the consequences in this crime is excluded , since the knowledge provided by law by the subject about the presence of a disease already presupposes the possibility of foreseeing infection with the disease of another person.

The motives and purposes of the crime may be different and do not affect qualifications.

subject of a crime is a person who has reached the age of 16, suffers from a sexually transmitted disease and knows about it. A person’s conviction that he has been completely cured frees him from criminal liability.

The knowledge of the guilty person about the presence of a sexually transmitted disease must be determined taking into account all objective data, for example, awareness after passing the necessary tests, while undergoing a prescribed course of treatment for a sexually transmitted disease or evading treatment (failure to appear when called to a medical institution, violation of the treatment regimen, self-medication, etc.), the condition is registered at the dispensary, and this awareness should extend to the entire period of venereal disease, its treatment, control observation of the patient by the medical institution until deregistration, since during this entire period the person is considered a carrier of venereal disease.

Grievous bodily injuries resulting in death: article of the Criminal Code

One of the aggravating features of the crime is serious bodily injury resulting in death. The most difficult thing in practice is the distinction between this crime and premeditated murder or negligent homicide, which we discussed in detail in the article “How to judge for unintentional and premeditated murder: Art. 115 KKU".

The correct criminal legal assessment of the act determines under which article a person will be held criminally liable, what term of punishment he will be given, and in general, whether his actions contained elements of a crime or whether the death was caused by accident.

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.

Features of serious bodily injuries with fatal outcome

The Plenum of the Supreme Court of Ukraine in its explanations notes that the main distinguishing feature is the content and direction of the intent of the perpetrator. Intention as a form of guilt is a person’s internal mental attitude to the action he performs and the consequences.

The question arises: how to understand whether the guilty person was aware of the nature and significance of his actions and whether he foresaw the onset of consequences, whether he wanted or, on the contrary, did not want them to occur?

When deciding this issue, the investigator or the court must be guided by some objective criteria. Such criteria, in particular, are:

1. method, weapon of crime;
2. number, nature and location of wounds and other bodily injuries;
3. reasons for stopping the crime;
4. the behavior of the perpetrator and the victim before the crime, their relationship.

In order to find out the content and direction of intent, it is necessary to consider the totality of all the circumstances of the committed act, and not selectively any of them.

Nevertheless, the decisive factor in qualification should be the subjective attitude of the perpetrator to the consequences of his actions:

1. in case of premeditated murder, the person who commits it desires the death of the victim, that is, has the intent to kill;
2. In case of serious bodily injury resulting in death, if the perpetrator does not wish the death of the victim, murder by negligence occurs.

Thus, this subjective attitude must be considered in conjunction with the objective circumstances analyzed above, which confirm or refute it. Therefore, for correct qualification, it will not be enough for the perpetrator to simply state that he did not want or did not foresee the consequence of death, or vice versa.

Qualified compounds for venereal disease infection

In Part 2 of Art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for qualified elements of this crime - in relation to two or more persons or in relation to a minor.

Infection of two or more persons

Criminal liability for infecting two or more persons with a venereal disease occurs only when two or more victims are actually infected. If the infection of one of the two victims with a venereal disease did not occur due to circumstances beyond the control of the guilty person who intended to infect him, and the second victim was infected with a venereal disease, then the act is qualified under the totality of Part 1 of Art. 121 and part 3 of Art. 30, part 2 art. 121 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Infection of a minor

For infecting a minor with a venereal disease, criminal liability arises only if the guilty person realizes or admits that he is infecting a victim of that age with a venereal disease.

Causing grievous bodily harm: article of the Criminal Code

A person is subject to criminal liability for grievous bodily harm (Article 121 of the Criminal Code) if at least one of the following consequences occurs:

1. if it was life-threatening at the time of infliction;
2. resulted in the loss of any organ or its functions;
3. provoked mental illness;
4. entailed another health disorder associated with permanent loss of ability to work by at least 1/3;
5. resulted in termination of pregnancy;
6. resulted in irreparable facial damage.

More details about each of the above signs are described in the Rules for forensic medical determination of the severity of bodily injuries. Let's look at some of them.

Danger to life - bodily injuries are considered life-threatening if, without medical attention, they could result in the death of the victim.

Loss of an organ or loss of organ function includes loss of vision, hearing, tongue, arm, leg, and reproductive ability.

Mental illness as a consequence of severe physical injury occurs regardless of its duration and whether it can be cured. Various reactive states that arise as a result of causing damage (psychosis, neuroses) do not apply. A psychiatric examination is ordered.

Health disorder associated with permanent disability must be at least 33% and is determined by a medical and social expert commission (MSEC).

If the termination of pregnancy occurred as a result of bodily injury, then it is considered grave, regardless of how far along the pregnancy the victim was.

The issue of whether the victim has a mutilated face falls within the competence of the court. And the medical examiner determines whether it is irreparable, for example, if surgery is required to correct it.

To summarize the topic of causing grievous bodily harm:

1. Article 121 of the Criminal Code defines six criteria by which bodily injury can be classified as serious.
2. Order of the Ministry of Health No. 6 of January 17, 1995 provides for the Rules for the forensic medical determination of the severity of bodily injuries, which establish medical criteria for each of the signs of serious bodily injury.
3. Both intentional and reckless grievous bodily harm are criminally punishable.
4. By analogy with intentional murder, the law also provides for privileged offenses of intentional grievous bodily harm.
5. In those crimes where severe bodily injury is an integral part (consequence) of a particular act, there is no need to further qualify such actions under Article 121 of the Criminal Code.

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Causing grievous bodily harm through negligence

Causing grievous bodily harm through negligence is a crime of minor gravity; the sanction of Article 128 of the Criminal Code does not even provide for imprisonment among the punishments; the highest penalty is restriction of liberty for a term of up to 2 years.

Please note that the main distinguishing feature of crimes provided for in Articles 121 and 128 of the Criminal Code is the form of guilt. Therefore, it depends on proper proof of the fact of careless infliction of bodily harm for which crime a person will be convicted - for a serious intentional crime or for causing serious bodily harm through negligence.

It is difficult for a person who is not a specialist in the field of criminal law to understand the intricacies and methods of his defense on his own.

Excess of self-defense

Only one type of bodily injury has privileged elements of crime; This is grievous bodily harm.

It should be noted that Articles 123, 124 of the Criminal Code, similarly to the case of intentional murder, provide for three privileged features:

1. exceeding the limits of necessary defense;
2. exceeding the measures necessary to apprehend a criminal;
3. caused in a state of strong emotional excitement (or in a state of passion). Read about what “privileged crimes” are and their characteristics in the article on premeditated murder.

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