Threats to kill or cause grievous bodily harm are criminal offenses. Specifically, Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation means a promise of physical violence causing grievous bodily harm or a promise of murder.
It is very important that it is not the real motives of the accused that are proven, but only the subjective perception of the victim: how he perceived these threats.
The fact is that if the victim perceives the threats realistically, then his sleep is disturbed, he becomes nervous and begins to worry, then the court and investigative authorities will accept this as evidence of the reality of the threats that were promised to him. In this case, it does not matter at all whether the person who made the threats could carry them out or not.
Specific example
The man believed that the famous phrase from the film “Gentlemen of Fortune” - “I’ll tear the jaws, I’ll gouge out the blinkers” is an aphorism. In one of the Internet chats, while communicating with someone, he wrote exactly that. After this, what is important, he did not stop threatening, he repeated and repeated this phrase and even began to develop exactly how, where, why and why he would perform the described actions.
The person whom he threatened in such a joking manner, as he believed, wrote a statement against him. Having analyzed all the correspondence and the applicant’s condition, the investigation came to the conclusion that this constitutes a crime under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The reality of threats or their perception
Paragraph 1 of Article 119 states that the victim must have grounds causing him to fear that the threats received will be carried out. However, there is a gap in the legislation regarding the deciphering of the concept of “foundation”.
Based on judicial practice, the following are considered grounds for fear of a threat being carried out:
- Obviousness, from the point of view of the victim.
- Fear, panic, or other signs of loss of mental balance caused by threats.
- Emotional and psychological disorders, depression, insomnia, etc., resulting from threats.
- The seriousness of the attacker's intentions.
Joke or threat?
When considering such cases, courts rely only on the opinion of the victim. This means that if a person believed in the likelihood of the threat being carried out, then it will be assessed under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of Russia. Consider an example of a famous joke that was perceived as a threat.
Everyone remembers the famous film “Gentlemen of Fortune,” in which Leonov’s hero says the following phrase: “I’ll tear my jaws apart. I’ll gouge out the blinkers.” It was this phrase that became the reason for the conviction under the above article.
Citizen Semyonova, communicating in a group on a social network, received this phrase as a response from citizen Petrov in response to her comment. What followed was a lengthy explanation from him as to why he wanted to do this. At first, she regarded the phrase as an inappropriate joke, but later, when citizen Petrov continued to repeatedly write similar things to her in the group and in personal correspondence, she believed in the likelihood of the plan coming true. Against the background of her experiences, she developed a nervous tic (constant involuntary contraction of the muscles of the right eyebrow). The victim wrote a statement to the police, attaching screenshots and a certificate from medical experts about the development of a nervous tic. The case went to trial. Citizen Petrov claimed that he was simply making fun of the victim, trying to appeal to the fact that everyone knows this famous joke. However, the court took into account the results of the examination about the deterioration of Semyonova’s psycho-emotional state and issued a guilty verdict.
Forms of threats
Threats can be verbal
, in personal communication, if someone really heard them and can confirm it.
Written
threats: in correspondence, via SMS messages, instant messengers and chats on the Internet. In particular, correspondence may be accompanied by threatening sounds. That is, if a person voiced a threat, for example, with murder and then accompanied it with the sounds of a gunshot or screams, then this will be considered a threat to kill.
If there were just shots and screams, but there was no threat of murder or serious harm to health, it was not expressed or written, then there is no corpus delicti.
Gestures also matter
, that is, when a person, either in the process of communication or in a video message via Skype or instant messengers, shows a gesture that means a threat to kill, under certain circumstances. If it is also accompanied by a threat, expressed or written, then this will fall under criminal liability under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Is the Internet a threat to your privacy?
Information is money. This is the main reason why your personal data is at risk.
Advertisers are after your browsing history - they can profit greatly from this information. Let’s say you type “apartment for rent” or “buy an apartment” into the search bar. By seeing your search history, the advertiser will understand that you are planning to move soon. This is a reason to show you advertisements for cargo taxis, furniture, building materials stores and insurance companies.
This is completely legal. However, scammers can also make money from your data. Credit card data is openly traded on the dark web, so for a cybercriminal to gain access to an airline's reservation system or an online store's customer base is a great success.
Attackers can use any information that you post online, which is why it is important to monitor the security of your personal data. Let's look at why online privacy is so important and how you can protect your personal data.
The essence of the threats
When an attacker threatens to simply kill a person, everything is clear. Things are a little more complicated with threats of physical violence. From the point of view of the criminal code, these are serious injuries, harm that entails irreversible consequences for a person.
The most common serious consequences are loss of vision and hearing (the notorious “I blinked”); loss of motor activity (I’ll break my legs), mental disorders (I’ll be sent to a mental hospital), loss of organs or their loss (I’ll tear off my head, I’ll tear off my arms), disfigurement of the body or face. The most egregious thing you can encounter is forced termination of pregnancy.
How to protect personal data on the Internet: down with surveillance
Even if you are using a secure connection, Google or another Internet giant may be tracking your online activities. Even your ISP can do this. By the way, in many countries, providers are required to save the search histories of their clients so that they can then be transferred to law enforcement agencies upon request. So if you want to protect your data on the Internet, you should make sure that no one is following you on the Internet.
To stop Google and others from tracking your search history, switch your browser to private mode. In Chrome it is called “Incognito Mode”, in Firefox it is called “Private Browsing”. If you are sitting at a shared computer or using a friend’s computer as a guest, private mode will come in handy: your data will not be saved on someone else’s device, and your friend will not then watch contextual advertising intended for you.
You can also install special extensions that will help prevent tracking using cookies and save you from annoying contextual advertising. Be careful: use extensions from trusted developers. Attackers often pass off malware as applications and extensions designed for protection.
But even after this, Google will still be able to collect data about you and store it on its server. For Google, analyzing search history and using it to tailor personalized ads is one way to make money. If you are not happy with this and want maximum privacy, use another search engine.
But your ISP will still be aware of your actions. If you don't want that either, this is a reason to think about a VPN again. Will a VPN protect your connection? Yes. Will a VPN protect you from a nosy ISP? Yes. In both cases the same method is used. Your connection is encrypted, but the provider does not have the key. All he can see is a random set of characters. Additionally, you won't be able to be tracked through cookies or other methods because the VPN also masks your IP address, meaning no one will know where your traffic is coming from.
Finally, remember to log out of your accounts when you're not using them. However, it is not enough to simply close the tab or browser. For example, Facebook tracks its users even if they do not have a social network tab open in their browser. To stop this, you need to log out of your account completely - this is especially important for online banking and brokerage accounts.
What to do
If you become a target of threats on the Internet, then you definitely need to take a screenshot of the screen and print it. Then you must definitely go to a notary and draw up an act of inspecting the pages of correspondence, if this happened on the Internet. The fact is that if the attacker suddenly realizes that he got carried away, he will begin to erase it all - this also happens.
If threats were received in a general chat where you were not alone, then you definitely need to collect data from witnesses who can then confirm that such a fact happened.
After collecting evidence, you can safely go to the police and write a statement in which you must indicate witnesses and attach a saved screenshot, or even better, the notary’s inspection reports. If threats were made more than once, be sure to record this as well.
Statement
If you receive a real threat, then do not wait for the possible actions of the criminal, but urgently notify law enforcement agencies about it .
Don't give in to panic and emotions. Act with composure. You can write a statement to both the prosecutor's office and the police .
At your request, you will be provided with a form and sample to ensure that your application is completed correctly.
In the application, be sure to indicate the authority where you are submitting the document, your initials and contact details, and also state in detail the essence of the problem, without giving vent to emotions. It would be good if you made links to the relevant articles in the law.
If you know information about the criminal , please include that as well. If not, write that you have no assumptions.
It’s good if you still have some evidence . The recording tape, witness statements and other things can significantly help in considering this case.
After this, take the application to the office, where you are given a document confirming this fact and you wait for the moment of initiation of a criminal case .
Download a sample death threat statement.
Liability under Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
If these were simply threats made for the first time, then the punishment can be imposed by the court up to two years in prison.
However, if these threats were made for political, ideological, national, racial reasons, with the aim of inciting national hatred, as well as against individuals and their loved ones, in connection with the implementation of their official activities by these individuals, then this is already up to 5 years of imprisonment.
Be very careful about what you write on social networks. As you know, everything that goes on the Internet remains and is stored there. This is both bad and good. Pay close attention to who you communicate with and what about, do not give vent to your anger, this can end very badly.
What is the punishment?
According to Part 1 of Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the following types of punishment are imposed for committing such a crime:
- arrest;
- imprisonment for a term of two years;
- performing correctional work;
- performing mandatory work;
- fine.
However, not all of these punishments are suitable if the crime was committed by a minor.
arrest, fine (only in case of emancipation) or imprisonment are not applied to minors .
A minor is placed in a general regime correctional colony for a period half as long as the term served by adults.
However, minors carry out correctional and compulsory labor under the supervision of criminal correctional inspectorates on an equal basis with adults , but with the least amount of time.
