General rules
Part 1 art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation determines that criminal cases cannot be initiated, and started proceedings must be terminated when:
- The absence of a fact (event) of a crime (no unlawful action was committed).
- Failure to detect signs of a criminal act in the subject’s behavior.
- Expiration of the statute of limitations established for prosecution.
- Death of the suspect/accused. The exception is cases when the initiation of proceedings is carried out for the purpose of rehabilitation of a person.
- Lack of statement from the victim. This rule applies if the initiation of proceedings cannot be carried out for other reasons. Exceptions to it are provided for in Part 4 of Art. 20 of the Code.
- The absence of a court opinion indicating the presence of signs of a criminal act in the behavior of the subject defined in paragraphs 2 and 2.1 of the first part of Article 448, the consent of the State Duma, the Federation Council, the Constitutional Court, the qualification board to initiate proceedings or involve one of the persons from the list provided for in paragraph 1 and 3-5 of the above norm.
Lack of statement from the victim
The legislation provides for cases when initiation of a case is possible only at the request of the injured subject. The absence of a statement from the victim acts as a reason for refusal to begin or terminate an investigation not only based on materials from private-public and private indictment proceedings, but also in cases determined by Article 23 of the Code, which regulates the procedure for bringing to prosecution based on a report from a commercial or other company. Part two of Art. 20 provides another basis for completing procedural actions. It is the reconciliation of the victim (his representative) with the accused in a private prosecution case.
Death of a face
In the literal sense of paragraph four of Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this event is the basis for completing the proceedings, and not for refusing to initiate a case. This is due to the fact that, according to Articles 46-47 of the Code, the accused/suspect appears in the process after the start of the investigation. An exception is the case of detention of a subject according to the rules of Articles 91-92, if he died before the initiation of proceedings. It seems that the meaning of the clause, according to which the number of persons in respect of whom a decision is made on the basis of the fourth paragraph is limited to only accused/suspects, is to ensure that the inquiry officer/investigator and the prosecutor have time to establish the need for rehabilitation of the deceased. If there is evidence of the existence of relevant circumstances, the proceedings should be continued according to the general rules. Moreover, it may end on the grounds established by paragraph one of part 1 of the commented article, as well as paragraph 1 of Art. 27, including in cases where the guilt of a person, despite all the measures that were taken, remained unproven.
Lack of composition
This basis is established by clause 2 of Art. 24 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. Proceedings on the case are terminated or their initiation is refused if:
- In the actual act, one or all of the signs of a crime provided for in the articles of the Special and General Parts of the Criminal Code were not found.
- The behavior was recognized as lawful due to the presence of circumstances that exclude its punishability. This situation is possible when carrying out the necessary defense, causing harm to health during the detention of a person who has committed a crime, actions in extreme necessity and other cases established by Chapter 8 of the Criminal Code.
- The act is not classified as a crime due to its insignificance. Its signs are established in Article 14.
- After the commission of an unlawful behavioral act, a law was passed that eliminates its punishability and criminality.
For example, the ground under consideration applies if it is revealed that the reason for filing a statement by the victim about the theft or theft of his car was the actions of his relative, who moved the vehicle without the owner’s knowledge to another place. In this case, it cannot be said that there was no event in which signs of a crime were present. Accordingly, use the basis contained in paragraph 1 of Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, it is impossible. In this case, the termination of the case is carried out under paragraph two of the commented norm.
Diplomatic immunity
Its presence also serves as a basis for refusing to begin proceedings or terminating an investigation that has already begun. This is the rule of Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure applies to the subjects listed in Article 448. The procedure is implemented either in the form of the absence of a court conclusion on the identified signs of an unlawful act or the consent of the State Duma, the Constitutional Court, the Federation Council, the Qualification Judicial Collegium to initiate proceedings or involve these persons as defendants.
Solving additional questions
When proceedings against a deceased suspect/accused are terminated, ambiguities arise in determining the fate of property that could have been stolen by him while committing an intentional crime. In such cases, interested parties are given the right to file a civil claim for the recovery of material assets from the illegal possession of other persons and for compensation for unjust enrichment. If the fact of the death of the only accused is revealed during the trial after the proclamation, but before the entry into force or after the verdict has acquired legal force, it, as well as the decisions of the cassation and appeal instances (if they considered the case) must be canceled in a supervisory manner.
Comments
If there are grounds specified in Part 1 of Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the inquiry officer/investigator is obliged to refuse to initiate proceedings in the case. If it has already been initiated and the normal facts have been revealed during the investigation, the prosecution must be terminated. This rule applies not only to cases provided for in Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but also those specified in Articles 443, 439, 28, 431 and 25. Termination of proceedings and prosecution, as well as refusal to initiate it in relation to subjects endowed with diplomatic immunity, is carried out according to the rules of Article 3 of the Code.
Important point
According to the resolution of the Constitutional Court dated July 14, 2011, if there is an objection from the relatives of the accused/suspect to the termination of proceedings due to the death of the subject, representatives of the preliminary investigation or court must continue the trial or investigation.
In this case, these persons are granted the rights that are provided for the deceased, as defined by Art. 42 (part of the Code of Criminal Procedure in relation to deceased victims. If the relatives of the accused/suspect are not identified, the absence of objections on their part is presumed. The prosecutor, body or person to whose proceedings the case was transferred must be immediately informed about the death of a subject in custody.
Statute of limitations
The rules for its calculation are established by Articles 78 and 94. The limitation period can be suspended only if the accused/suspect evades trial and investigation. It resumes from the moment the subject is detained or surrenders. The commission of a new crime cannot interrupt the course of the term, since the periods are calculated for each act separately. Termination of proceedings on the basis established by paragraph three of Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in relation to subjects who are accused of crimes for which life imprisonment is established, falls within the exclusive competence of the court. It is not permissible to end the prosecution if the suspect or accused objects to it.
Additionally
According to Art. 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the case must be terminated on the basis established in paragraph two of the article in question, if the punishability and criminality of the act of the subject were eliminated by a newly adopted law before the sentence came into effect. This procedural action entails the end of the criminal prosecution. The proceedings are subject to termination upon completion of the investigation against all accused/suspects, except for the cases established by the first paragraph of Part 1 of Article 27.
