Why do insults appear?
At a moment of increased neuropsychic excitability, during conflicts, people say words that can later be regretted not only because of their personal qualities, but also because the consequence of this will be bringing to administrative responsibility - insult to personality (Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation with comments). Therefore, in order to avoid punishment, it is better, as they say, to “choose your expressions.”
When uttering words against a person that can be interpreted as an insult, a citizen must understand that by doing so he is encroaching on the honor and dignity (good name) of another person - those intangible benefits that belong to him from birth and are subject to protection.
The provision of this article is aimed at protecting the personal non-property rights of citizens. Based on the law, an openly expressed, cynical, contrary to public morality, form of communication that is humiliating for a person is considered indecent.
Comes from childhood
Often, devaluation is rooted in childhood, when parents’ communication is based on belittling each other. And along the way, they humiliate the child, constantly criticizing him. And then their offspring fixes this model of behavior as the only possible one and transfers it to his adult life.
Fathers and mothers who have low self-esteem, lack self-confidence, and believe that everything is going badly in their lives may experience a reluctance (perhaps unconsciously) for someone to be better than them. This also applies to their children, to whom they say, for example: “You are stupid! Nothing will come of you!” As a result, such a child does not grow up to be a successful, self-confident, knowledgeable person, but one who devalues others.
How to protect yourself from insults?
How in practice are these rights protected and a person brought to administrative responsibility?
- The first thing to do is to write down the details of the people who heard the insult, know about the circumstances of the incident, and were eyewitnesses of the conflict.
- The second is to write a statement to the prosecutor's office of the district where the insult occurred, since it is the prosecutor (deputy) who is authorized to make decisions on cases of this category.
In accordance with the requirements of Art. 28.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the prosecutor, if there are grounds, is obliged to initiate a case of an administrative offense.
To do this, he issues decisions that indicate:
- date and place of drawing up the resolution,
- position, surname and initials of the person who compiled the protocol,
- information about the person against whom a case of administrative offense has been initiated,
- surnames, first names, patronymics, residential addresses of witnesses and victims, if there are witnesses and victims,
- place, time of commission and event of the administrative offense,
- an article of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation or the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, providing for administrative liability for this offense,
- explanation of the individual or legal representative of the legal entity against whom the case has been initiated,
- other information necessary to resolve the case.
Responsibilities of the prosecutor
What deadlines must the prosecutor observe when issuing this resolution, which replaces the protocol on an administrative offense?
According to Art. 28.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, a decision is made immediately if no additional clarification is required.
If it is necessary to clarify the circumstances of the incident or information about the individual against whom a case of an administrative offense is being initiated, then the decision is made within two days from the moment the administrative offense is discovered.
I note that in practice this deadline is not observed, but its violation does not entail the recognition of the prosecutor’s procedural actions as unacceptable.
It happens that the prosecutor first sends a statement to the police for investigation and questioning of all persons, and only then makes a decision.
Based on Art. 28.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, the resolution of the prosecutor or his deputy is drawn up with the participation of the person against whom proceedings are being conducted for an administrative offense.
An individual or a legal representative of a legal entity against whom a case of an administrative offense has been initiated must be given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the protocol on the administrative offense.
These persons have the right to provide explanations and comments on the contents of the protocol (Part 4 of Article 28.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) and attach them to it.
The protocol may be drawn up in the absence of interested persons, if they did not appear before the prosecutor.
This is possible only if an individual, a legal representative of an individual or a legal representative of a legal entity was notified in the prescribed manner of the opening of proceedings against them regarding an administrative offense (Part 4.1 of Article 28.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).
Within three days from the date of drawing up the protocol on an administrative offense, a copy of it is sent to the person in respect of whom it was drawn up.
Thus, the above norms provide a person brought to administrative responsibility with the opportunity to protect his rights and legitimate interests, as well as to take direct part in making a decision to initiate a case of an administrative offense.
After the decision is made, the prosecutor sends the material to the magistrate; it is he who is authorized to consider such cases, and at the place where the offense was committed.
The place of commission of an administrative offense is the place where the unlawful act was committed, regardless of the place where its consequences occurred. If such an act is of a continuing nature, then the place where the illegal activity ends and its suppression is indicated.
If the offense is committed in the form of inaction, then the place where it was committed should be considered the place where the action should have been performed and the obligation assigned to the person fulfilled.
If the person involved has not reached the age of majority, then, in accordance with Article 23.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, consideration of cases of administrative offenses committed by persons from 16 to 18 years of age (including cases listed in parts 1 and 2 of Article 23.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation) refers to competence of commissions on affairs of minors and protection of their rights.
Degradation at work
When carrying out labor activities, citizens may also be subjected to humiliation and discrimination on the grounds of race, social status, nationality, religious and other beliefs.
At the same time, it is possible to accuse a person who committed the above acts only if a significant group of people was humiliated and this was done publicly, including through the media.
Otherwise, an act that degrades a person’s dignity will be considered under Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Responsibilities of a judge
What should the judge find out during the proceedings? First of all this:
- the presence of an administrative offense event;
- determine the person who committed unlawful actions (inaction), for which administrative liability is provided for by this Code or the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation;
- guilt of a person in committing an administrative offense;
- circumstances mitigating administrative responsibility and circumstances aggravating administrative responsibility;
- the nature and extent of damage caused by the administrative offense;
- circumstances excluding proceedings in a case of an administrative offense;
- other circumstances relevant for the correct resolution of the case, as well as the reasons and conditions for committing an administrative offense.
What evidence proves all this?
Any factual data on the basis of which the judge determines:
- the presence or absence of an administrative offense event,
- the guilt of the person brought to administrative responsibility,
- other circumstances relevant for the correct resolution of the case.
These data are established by the protocol on an administrative offense and other protocols provided for by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, explanations of the person against whom proceedings are being conducted for an administrative offense, testimony of the victim, witnesses, expert opinions, other documents, as well as testimony of special technical means (audio recording on the phone ), physical evidence.
Moral injury
The difficulty of proving moral damage is as follows:
- each person can react differently to the same words (the offender may not even be aware that he is insulting his interlocutor with this action and/or expression);
- an insult can humiliate a person, although witnesses, due to ignorance of certain circumstances, may not understand that the statement is precisely an insult.
Speech expressed in the form of suspicion will not be an insult. For example, the assumption that a person is a thief and a direct statement (I think he stole and you are a thief) are two different things. Actions considered an insult:
- the offense is directed towards a specific person and/or a specific group of persons);
- interethnic quarrels and insults provoked by nationality and/or ethnicity will be considered under another article;
- the insult does not affect the person’s qualities (for example, he works poorly), but his personality. The degree of moral damage is determined by the magistrate, however, in order to apply for protection of rights, you do not need to write a statement of claim.
It will be enough to contact the prosecutor's office. The following may act as defendants in such proceedings:
- the one who directly offended;
- the one who leaked the information to the media.
The following is used as evidence:
- witness's testimonies;
- audio/video recordings;
- certificates and other documents directly related to the trial.
Do not forget about paying the state fee; the judge will not initiate legal proceedings without paying the required tax. The amount to be paid is 200 rubles. But before filing a claim, you will need to take the details for transferring funds and clarify the amount of the state duty, since our laws are often amended. The applicant himself must ensure the attendance of witnesses in the courtroom. The amount is determined by the victim himself - how much he wants to receive for the moral damage caused. But in fact, only a judge can decide how much the person who was insulted will receive, having studied all the circumstances of the case. And provided that the guilt of the accused is proven.
Under what circumstances can the court admit guilt?
Under what circumstances can a court find someone guilty of an administrative offense?
The statute of limitations for bringing administrative liability for insult is 3 months, that is, if someone was insulted on July 11, 2018, October 11, 2021 is the last day when the court can punish.
A necessary sign of an administrative offense in the form of insult is a negative assessment of a person, which must be expressed exclusively in an indecent form.
To incur liability under Part 1 of Art. 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation must be established in controversial statements simultaneously:
- linguistic signs of insult,
- linguistic signs of an indecent form of expression.
The remark made must necessarily be of an individually specific nature and contain a negative assessment of the victim’s personality. In addition, these assessments must be expressed deliberately with the aim of humiliating the honor and dignity of another person and in an indecent manner.
Humiliation of part and dignity is a negative assessment of a person in a generalized form, aimed at discrediting him, undermining a person’s authority both in the eyes of others and in his own, since honor and dignity are moral categories associated with the assessment of a specific personality by others and a person’s self-esteem .
An insult is a negative assessment of a person, which should be expressed exclusively in an indecent, that is, in an openly cynical form, contrary to the universal requirements of morality and the accepted manner of communication between people. This is a necessary condition for this administrative offense.
Obscene speech not directed at a specific person does not constitute an administrative offense. For example, used simply to connect words or as a reaction to stress.
In our culture, obscene words include words, expressions and forms that contain obscenity.
Vocabulary is divided into:
- normative (acceptable everywhere);
- non-normative (that which is not just outside the norms of the literary language, but is unacceptable in society).
Most often, obscene language is considered an insult, since it is absolutely unacceptable not only in public and public use, but also in any form of oral or written speech, in any situation.
Words that mean:
- male, female genital organ;
- process of intercourse;
- a woman leading a dissolute lifestyle;
- all cognates of the specified words.
For example, a rude inducement to action (“go... away from here”, etc.) will be classified as an insult.
Slander
Slander means deliberately false information disseminated by the defendant intentionally. For such an offense, criminal liability is provided under Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. May be distributed publicly. If, in addition to false information, accusations of committing a crime (grave/especially grave) that are not true are circulated, the defendant’s punishment will be increased. What you can get:
- fine 80 thousand rubles/income for six months/compulsory work up to 240 hours/correctional labor up to 6 months/restriction of freedom up to 12 months;
- for public libel, a fine of 120 thousand rubles/income for six months/compulsory work for up to 180 hours/correctional labor for up to 24 months/restriction of freedom for up to 24 months/arrest for up to six months;
- for accusations of a crime, a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles/salary for up to 2 years/restriction of freedom for up to 36 months/arrest for six months/imprisonment for 3 years.
One of the above measures may be applied to a person found guilty.
