It can be difficult to resist saying harsh words to a person. For example, in the queue at the checkout, my aunt spends a long time digging around, choosing something. Or in the parent chat, someone's dad got upset. Or in a group at home, a neighbor speaks out. Or a user under a YouTube video in the comments - well, he writes nonsense - how can he remain silent!
Our legislators thought...
“An analysis of law enforcement practice shows that the existing mechanism for protecting the honor and dignity of citizens from humiliation, including that contained in publicly displayed works and the media, is not effective enough.”
From the explanatory note to the bill
... and adopted a new version of Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offences:
Changes are highlighted in color. They come into force on January 15, 2021.
A different form that contradicts generally accepted norms of morality and morality - I especially like this place.
As a lawyer, I express my indignation at this formulation: it is broad and not specific, abstract and incomprehensible. Please note that I am not being rude to anyone now, because it would cost from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles.
Since the form of insult can also be “different,” a gesture with the middle finger, a smiley face, or even a contemptuous look is suitable. I probably went too far with my gaze, but who knows - there’s not enough imagination to compile at least an approximate list of insults.
- Be rude, boy! // Still from the film “12 Chairs”.
Offended on the Internet
If the insults were distributed on the Internet, then the fine is higher—up to 10,000 rubles for citizens. Therefore, my attitude towards the authors of the wording could be qualified under Part 2 of Art. 5.61 Code of Administrative Offenses:
Part 2 of Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Effective January 15, 2021
The same part also punishes righteous anger addressed to several persons, not even specific ones.
For example, a review on the website: “Only d...s work in this taxi” can cost up to 10,000 rubles. Or during class, the teacher will go over the poor students and truants, without even naming names.
And the salaries of warrant officers are not enough to educate their personnel // Still from the film “The Best Film”
The truth is I don’t understand: who will write a statement about insult? Most likely, any person who considers himself to be a member of any group of people. Let's see.
Where to file a complaint about personal insult
A person who has been insulted and humiliated should apply for protection of his rights to the police, prosecutor's office, and court.
The choice of authority is determined by:
- relations between conflicting parties;
- the stage at which the offense case is located;
- the presence and completeness of evidence of the offender’s illegal actions;
- presence of financial claims.
It is not prohibited to submit an application to all authorities at once. The prosecutor's office may impose an administrative fine on the violator, and the court may additionally impose material or moral damages.
Application methods:
- personally;
- by post;
- in electronic form through the official websites of law enforcement agencies.
To the police
If the offender is a neighbor, acquaintance or other private person, and the applicant does not claim compensation for the damage received, then you can complain to the police at the place of residence of the perpetrator.
An appeal submitted to a local police officer or police station will be put into production. The appointed employee will independently collect the missing information and evidence, and then transfer the case to the prosecutor's office.
The method of filing through the police will also be effective when the applicant needs his matter to be monitored by the relevant supervisory authorities.
To the prosecutor's office
If insulted by a person performing official duties, they contact the prosecutor's office at the place of residence or work of the perpetrator. Based on the application, a prosecutor's investigation is ordered. If she confirms the facts specified in the complaint, then a fine is imposed on the official.
A statement about an administrative violation will go to the prosecutor’s office even in the case when it was submitted to the police.
When drawing up a complaint to the district prosecutor, it is necessary to draw his attention to the possibility of requesting other evidence of the offense, for example, recordings from video cameras or a story on a television channel.
To the courts
To file an application in court, a person must have undeniable evidence of the offender’s guilt and financial claims against him. It is also necessary that a pre-trial investigation be carried out or the prosecutor refuse to initiate an administrative case.
The court determines not only penalties, but also ways to restore a person’s reputation.
The claim is drawn up in accordance with Art. 131 and 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation rules. It contains the same information as in complaints to law enforcement agencies, only in the appropriate manner and with legal justification. Before filing, you must pay a state fee.
You can simultaneously file a lawsuit to hold the offender liable for libel under Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Documents go to court after the prosecutor has carried out checks and issued an appropriate decision for further proceedings and decision-making.
Rude official
Insults uttered by a state or municipal employee will cost him from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand rubles. This is also a new product, provided for in Part 4 of Art. 5.61 Code of Administrative Offences. He could also be disqualified for a year.
Parts 4 and 5 of Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Also effective January 15, 2021.
If the official does not calm down and continues to misbehave again, the fine will be from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand rubles, or he will be suspended from service for up to two years.
How to prove the guilt of the offender?
In fact, it is not very difficult to prove the guilt of someone who hurt your honor and dignity. To do this, you can keep the following points in mind:
- Record the conversation on a voice recorder;
- If the offender is one of your acquaintances, you can arrange a meeting with him and invite friends who may later witness the incident;
- Talk to other people offended by this person and become witnesses for each other;
- If the insult was public, then in addition to the witnesses there may also be those who recorded it on a video camera;
- In some cases of public insult in the media, video materials, notes and articles can serve as evidence.
Attention
Please note that strict remarks, sometimes expressed in rude form, are not insults. Insult is an insult inflicted in an indecent form, using abuse and obscene language.
Scolded by the boss
By the way, according to the authors of the changes, in 2021 and 2021, more than 100 officials who were not government employees were brought to administrative responsibility for insults.
The word of the leader is always significant, therefore, for officials under all elements of Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses “Insult”, increased amounts of administrative fines have been provided:
- “simple” insult: from 30,000 to 50,000 rubles.
- public insult and insult on the Internet: from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles.
Insult on social networks
Insults in contact, classmates and other social networks are most common and can have dire consequences for vulnerable segments of the population.
Around the time that social networks appeared (and they appeared in our country quite recently), the so-called “trolls” appeared. This group includes people whose communication manners are rude, have a negative connotation and are full of cynicism, rudeness and all sorts of provocations. These people usually create pages with someone else's name, thinking that they are protecting themselves and their affiliation with the abuse cannot be proven. They behave in this way in order to attract attention to their person and raise their, usually low, self-esteem. Insults on social networks also fall under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provocateurs usually do not think about.
Experienced Internet users usually try not to pay attention to such people, but inexperienced users can be seriously offended by this behavior and ruin their mood for a long time.
You can solve the problem much faster if you order a Call Back
The obscenity of the form of insult will be assessed by the court
Each person is touchy in his own way: some see only constructiveness in any negativity, others use the credo: “Everything that doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. If I wanted to kill, I would kill.” The other one is ready to cry from the same disdainful look.
Therefore, in practice, not every offender is brought to administrative responsibility:
“The presence of humiliation of honor and dignity, its degree (depth) is assessed by the victim himself, while the obscenity of the form of the statement is assessed by the court”
Decision of the Supreme Court of the Altai Republic dated November 30, 2017 No. 21-81/2017
This means that you are not the only one who should be offended by the insult. First the prosecutor and then the court must agree with you. With the new edition of Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, this will be easier to do.
Terms of consideration
A case of an administrative offense against the offender is initiated either immediately or within 2 days from the receipt of the application, depending on the need to obtain additional information.
The period for initiating a case may be extended to 2 months due to the need for investigation. In this case, the prosecutor's office notifies the applicant of an increase in the term.
After the prosecutor's office draws up a resolution, the documents are sent to the court for further proceedings and a decision.
The prosecutor may also decide not to initiate a case. This refusal can be appealed in court.
How moral damage is compensated
Moral damage may be subject to recovery under the criminal code and then the plaintiff must contact the investigator leading the case. It is the investigator who will be able to explain in court why moral damages are necessary in the specified amount. Or, collection occurs according to the civil code and then the plaintiff relies solely on his own strength or can involve a lawyer.
In cases of independently collecting evidence, it is necessary to attract witnesses. They can be relatives, colleagues or neighbors, as well as eyewitnesses of the incident. In addition, opinions from either a psychologist or psychotherapist are required.
You also need to remember that if the case of moral compensation is carried out under the criminal code, then the state fee is not paid. But, if compensation for moral damage is carried out according to the civil code, then from the specified or won amount it will be necessary to pay interest to the treasury. In practice, lawyers are trying to prove that payment of state duty for non-property compensation should not be withdrawn, but such cases have never been won in the Russian Federation.
The only case for which the state fee is not paid is a violation of consumer rights.
Road accidents and moral damage
Most often, moral damages are recovered after an accident. The courts know a lot of cases where the amounts of moral penalties were too high and were reduced by judicial procedure to 90%.
In case of an accident, a lot of nuances are taken into account. For example, if an incident occurs with a pedestrian, it is taken into account where he crossed the road and what condition he was in when he did so. If the investigation established that the pedestrian crossed the road in the wrong place or was drunk, the amount of moral damages will be minimal, but will still be assigned.
If an accident occurred between two cars, the adequacy of the drivers who were driving, the reasons why traffic rules were violated and the injuries, both moral and physical, that were inflicted are taken into account. In such cases, the amounts of compensation can be quite high, up to the maintenance of the victim for many years.
How to properly write an appeal to the police, court, prosecutor's office
You should consider this decision carefully before making your application. The main question that needs to be answered is “is there enough evidence to punish the offender?” If you have confidence in your own abilities, you should act like this.
Tips for writing an appeal
You should include information about yourself (about the injured person) in your appeal:
- FULL NAME;
- telephone;
- residential address;
- passport details.
Important!
The telephone number must be indicated so that law enforcement agencies can easily contact the applicant to clarify information. You should describe what happened as carefully as possible, but clearly and without emotion. There must be a description of the actual insults, a list of characters, witnesses, and so on. The location of the incident must be indicated, preferably the exact address.
One statement without evidence cannot lead to proper consideration by human rights defenders. Therefore, it should be accompanied by information about witnesses, photographs, audio and video recordings, printouts of Internet pages or SMS.
Attention! Applications to the prosecutor's office without indicating a return address will not be considered.
Important Rules
Despite the fact that the appeal can be written in a free format, it must comply with the following rules:
- in the upper right corner the name of the body is written, if possible, then information about the official to whom the document is addressed (full name, position);
- “Statement” is written in the middle of the document;
- then the rule of law that was violated by the attacker is indicated;
- What follows are the detailed circumstances of what happened;
- the next point is evidence;
- date and signature of the applicant.
Important! If law enforcement agencies have the opportunity to obtain additional evidence (for example, recordings from external surveillance cameras), this should be noted in the appeal.
What must be proven to recover moral damages?
As has already become clear, there is no specific algorithm of actions for obtaining compensation for moral damage. But still, according to the latest changes in the laws of 2021, circumstances are indicated that must be proven without fail.
- Moral injury. The fact that it was actually applied is necessary.
- It must be proven that the defendant actually acted unlawfully. A special role in the amount of compensation is played by the fact whether the accused acted on purpose or whether it was just an accident.
- Causal relationship.
- The guilt of the person who caused moral suffering.
How to determine the amount of moral damage
Of course, determining the amount of compensation for moral damages will not be easy. Experts often recommend going to a psychologist to get an opinion on the state of your mental health. A psychologist can describe in detail how much a particular situation has harmed his patient and determine how what happened will change his life in the future.
In court, you can ask a specialist who works with victims and who can help determine how much recovery his patient needs to receive. After receiving the conclusion, the lawyer, based on the laws of the Russian Federation, will be able to determine the required amount and draw up a claim, which the court will actually consider and take into account.
In addition, the Russian scientist has patented a special technique, thanks to which such issues can be resolved quite easily. He determined that if moral damages are necessary due to the fact that human health has been damaged, then the defendant must pay at least 720 minimum wages in order to provide the victim with everything necessary for the next 10 years. For a long time, the court actually relied on a similar technique, but, unfortunately, in 2016 this technique was excluded from the official register. Some lawyers still ask their clients to use the method as one of the options in order to achieve the desired answer in court.
The court must ask for documentary evidence that moral damage has been caused. This could be photo or video facts, notes and other possible evidence. You need to understand that words alone will not be enough.
Lawyers recommend specifying the highest possible amount of moral damage, given that the court can cut it to half or even more. In addition to considering the evidence, the judge also evaluates how badly the plaintiff suffered. The offenses specified by the defendant are also taken into account, whether physical suffering was specified or only mental, and how much the plaintiff will suffer in the future due to the moral damage inflicted on him.
