Loss of information constituting a state secret is a serious offense for which penalties are imposed under Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. After all, this causes serious damage to the very structure of the state, as well as to the entire society.
Here we will analyze the features of this atrocity and its characteristics. At the end of the article, the measures that are chosen by the court in relation to criminals whose guilt under Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was proven.
Corpus delicti
The acts described in Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Loss of documents containing state secrets” are classified as crimes of medium gravity. For their correct qualification it is required that they correspond to the corpus delicti of the crime.
The nature of the crime is material, and the offense itself will be considered completed when grave consequences have occurred due to the act.
The social danger of the act lies in the fact that the security of the country and government is undermined, which can have very negative consequences in the future (violation of the territorial integrity of the country, etc.)
When is it considered a crime?
Under this article, persons who have access to documents or items that constitute state secrets are involved. Out of frivolity or negligence, they did not comply with the rules for handling documents, which led to their subsequent loss.
At the same time, liability for the loss of documents containing state secrets occurs only if this entails serious consequences. It is important that the reason for this was precisely the violation of the rules for handling such papers.
For example, an employee took papers containing information about a military installation to his home to work on them. Through carelessness, he lost one of the documents, and information from it became known to strangers.
Objective and subjective sides
The objective side is determined by the following features:
- action or inaction related to violation of the rules for handling documents or objects related to state secrets (removing papers from the office or working with them at home without permission);
- loss of these papers and the occurrence of grave consequences in connection with this;
- the presence of a cause-and-effect relationship between these events.
Only if all three signs are present can we say that the citizen should be prosecuted under the article under comment.
The subjective side is a form of guilt due to negligence. The citizen understood that his actions could result in the loss of documents, but did nothing to eliminate such consequences.
There is another option: the person did not foresee the possible result of his act, although he should have.
Attention ! If a citizen intentionally committed such an offense, then his actions are determined under Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (disclosure of data containing state secrets).
Objects and subjects of crime
The subject of the offense is:
- documents containing information regarding state secrets, regardless of their form and type;
- items, the data about which constitute the above-mentioned secret itself (instances of various equipment or apparatus).
Object – public relations in the field of preserving and protecting state secrets in order to ensure the security of the entire country.
The subject of the loss of documents containing state secrets is a special one, namely a citizen who is responsible for the safety of documents and objects that were entrusted to him or became known through his work. In this case, the following standard conditions must be met:
- the person must be 16 years old at the time the offense was committed;
- he does not have any mental illness.
Evidence – what problems arise?
According to judicial practice regarding the loss of documents containing state secrets, the greatest problem is finding a cause-and-effect relationship between violation of the rules for handling such papers and their subsequent loss.
Moreover, it should be direct, and not indirect. Otherwise, the corpus delicti under Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is missing.
Not every violation of the handling of securities entails their subsequent withdrawal from possession. Let's give a specific example. The safe in which documents or items containing information about state secrets were kept was poorly sealed. Then the papers themselves were stolen from him.
There is no causal connection between these two events - the unsealing of the safe and the subsequent theft. Therefore, such an act cannot be qualified under Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Second commentary to Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. The immediate object of the crime is the defense capability and economic security of the state.
2. The objective side of the crime is characterized by:
a) action or inaction (violation of the established rules for handling documents containing state secrets, as well as objects, information about which constitutes a state secret);
b) consequence (loss of the latter and the onset of grave consequences);
c) the causal relationship between the specified actions (inaction) and the consequences.
A document containing a state secret is an official or unofficial carrier of information about such a secret (official documents - certificates, reports, etc., draft records, data recorded on magnetic tape, photographs and film, etc.). Items, information about which constitutes a state secret, are various products, samples, models and materials, for example, individual copies or models of equipment, instruments, weapons.
The crime was completed from the moment the relevant documents were lost, which, in turn, led to grave consequences.
Loss is the release of documents containing state secrets, or items, information about which constitutes state secrets, from the possession of a person who has access to state secrets. The destruction of documents or items constituting a state secret does not constitute a loss, since this excludes the possibility of unauthorized persons becoming familiar with them.
The concept of the occurrence of grave consequences is understood in the same way as in Part 2 of Art. 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
3. The subject of a crime can only be a person who has access to state secrets.
4. The subjective side of the crime is characterized by carelessness (as well as in the form of frivolity or negligence).
Qualification signs and features
These include:
- violation of the rules for handling documents (to qualify the act, it is necessary to establish which specific rules were violated);
- loss of the documents themselves or the onset of other grave consequences, that is, loss of actual control over them. For example, a citizen took a folder with papers outside and left them there due to negligence;
- the presence of a cause-and-effect relationship between them (it was precisely because of the violation of the above norms that there was a loss of control over such important papers).
Measures of assigned responsibility
The following penalties are imposed for the loss of documents containing state secrets:
- restriction of a person’s movements for a period of up to three years;
- arrest for 4-6 months;
- imprisonment for a period of up to three years with the imposition of a ban on carrying out certain types of activities or holding certain positions for 3 years (the last sanction is assigned at the discretion of the judge).
The specific measure is chosen by the court after an investigation has been conducted into the case and it has been considered by the judge. Its purpose is influenced by those negative events that occurred as a result of the crime. There is a pattern here: the more negative the result of the act, the more severely the punishment is determined.
A mitigation of punishment may be influenced by factors such as the presence of small children and good recommendations from management.
How to avoid punishment
The actions of a person are not qualified under the commented article if his violation of the rules for handling papers containing information about state secrets did not entail any serious consequences.
For example, he left documents in a place where it is prohibited to store them, but then found them there and returned them where they should be. In this case, he will only face penalties for work, and punishment under Art. 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will not apply to him.
Third commentary to Article 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
1. The loss of documents containing state secrets, as well as objects, information about which constitutes a state secret, is understood as such an unlawful withdrawal from the possession of a given person, as a result of which they became the property of unauthorized persons and grave consequences occurred. Documents include text and graphic materials executed typographically, typewritten or by hand (drawings, plans, typographical maps, orders, directives, statements, acts, reviews, etc.), which contain information constituting a state secret. A document is an act that has the following details: a classification stamp, a registration number of a government body, enterprise, institution or organization that carried out the classification, a special procedure for storage, movement, issuance and work. Items, information about which constitutes a state secret, are various materials and products that carry information of the specified type. These include: closed samples of equipment and weapons, ciphers, codes, negatives, photographs, etc.
2. From the objective side, a crime includes a combination of three characteristics: a) an act associated with a violation of established rules for handling documents (objects); b) the loss of documents (items) from the possession of this person, as a result of which grave consequences occurred; c) a causal connection between the act and the consequences that occur. The rules for handling documents are regulated by laws and regulations (instructions, regulations, manuals). Violations of the rules are expressed: in working with a document in an unspecified place (for example, at home), failure to seal a safe, violation of the rules for transferring it to other persons, etc. A document is considered out of possession (lost) if it is neither in the place of permanent storage nor in the possession of the specific executor to whom it was issued. There must be a direct causal connection between the fact of violation of the rules for handling a document (item) containing a state secret and its release from possession and the onset of grave consequences. If the document, although lost, but the fact of its leaving possession and the onset of grave consequences are not in a causal connection with the violation of the rules for handling it, then there is no corpus delicti. ——————————— For example, if the safe into which the criminals entered, although it turned out to be unsealed, but the seizure of documents occurred by cutting out a window in it with an autogenous apparatus, there is a lack of causal connection, and therefore, no basis for qualification according to Art. 284 CC.
As practice materials show, violations are most often associated with the fact that a person works with documents in an unspecified place, at the wrong time, and does not comply with the rules and procedures for their storage, forwarding, hand-to-hand transfer, destruction, or familiarization with them to other persons and so on. For example, Ch., while on a business trip in another city, in violation of the current rules, carried 12 top secret documents around the city in his bag. Having gone into a telephone booth to make a call, Ch. forgot his bag along with his documents. The documents were found only the next day, in another place in the city, which led to unauthorized persons becoming familiar with them and the onset of grave consequences. The concept of grievous harm was given in relation to Art. 283 CC. If there are no serious consequences for the loss, then there is no corpus delicti. The culprit must bear administrative or disciplinary liability.
3. The subjective side of the crime is characterized by a careless form of guilt. At the same time, in relation to the fact of violation of the rules for handling documents, guilt can be in the form of both intent and negligence. In relation to the resulting consequences, guilt can only be careless (in the form of frivolity or negligence).
4. The subject of this crime can be a person who has reached the age of 16 and has access to state secrets (Article 21 of the Law of the Russian Federation of July 21, 1993 “On State Secrets”).
The investigation of criminal cases involving loss poses significant difficulties for two reasons: 1) the existence of the fact of loss requires the actual occurrence of grave consequences, which are problematic to prove in a temporary sense; 2) the presence of mandatory access for the subject is associated with real situations when a certain category of citizens does not have access, but actual access to such information is available or the form of access does not correspond to the secrecy of documents and materials. Such issues will obviously require resolution at the legislative level, up to and including changing the content of the article in the Criminal Code. ‹Article 283.1. Illegal acquisition of information constituting a state secretTop Article 284.1. Carrying out activities on the territory of the Russian Federation of a foreign or international non-governmental organization in respect of which a decision has been made to recognize its activities as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation ›
