Punishment for causing grievous bodily harm under Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: what is the criminal liability and what sentence will the perpetrator receive for causing injury?

1. Intentional infliction of serious harm to health, dangerous to human life, or resulting in loss of vision, speech, hearing or any organ or loss of organ functions, termination of pregnancy, mental disorder, drug addiction or substance abuse, or resulting in permanent disfigurement a person who has caused a significant permanent loss of general ability to work by at least one-third or a complete loss of professional ability to work, known to the perpetrator, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to eight years.

2. The same acts committed: a) against a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person or the performance of a public duty; b) in relation to a minor or another person who is known to be in a helpless state by the perpetrator, as well as with special cruelty, mockery or torture for the victim; c) in a generally dangerous manner; d) for hire; e) for hooligan reasons; f) for reasons of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or for reasons of hatred or enmity towards any social group; g) for the purpose of using the victim’s organs or tissues; h) with the use of weapons or objects used as weapons - is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to ten years, with or without restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

3. Acts provided for in parts one or two of this article, if they are committed: a) by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group; b) in relation to two or more persons, - c) the clause became invalid on December 11, 2003. - Federal Law of December 8, 2003 N 162-FZ - is punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to twelve years, with or without restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

4. Acts provided for in parts one, two or three of this article, which through negligence resulted in the death of the victim, are punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to fifteen years, with or without restriction of freedom for a term of up to two years.

Serious harm to health: legislation

The issue under consideration is regulated by several legislative acts.

Criminal Code of the Russian Federation . It is this normative act that directly defines the concept of grievous bodily harm. And Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation forms an independent element of an intentional crime, for which corresponding criminal liability is provided. Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to unintentional grave damage.
Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The sphere of civil regulation includes the right of the victim to compensation for moral damage by the culprit. He will be able to exercise this right to file a civil claim during the consideration of the criminal case and strictly until the verdict is passed.
Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. It reflects the procedure for drawing up and filing a claim in court (in particular, Articles 131, 132).
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated August 17, 2007 No. 522 . It approved the Rules by which it is possible to objectively determine the severity of harm to health. This act is used to determine whether this or that harm to health falls into one of the categories of severity.

Guided by the norm of the above-mentioned Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, severe harm to health is understood as such dangerous damage to the human body, as a result of which:

the victim loses speech, vision, hearing, or one or more organs (or he loses his function);
the face is disfigured beyond repair;
the pregnancy is terminated (regardless of the term);
the psyche is seriously impaired;
general ability to work is lost for a long time and by more than 1/3;
professional ability to work is completely lost (and the culprit knew about this when he committed the crime);
disease of drug addiction or substance abuse.

Commentary on Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. The most dangerous type of attack on human health is serious harm to health, which has a clear tendency to increase. When describing the elements of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm in the commentary. The article uses a combined method: by listing its constituent elements - types of grave harm, as well as by indicating the closest genus and species differences.

2. Grave harm includes <1>: ——————————— <1> The comments in articles on crimes against human health are based on the provisions of the Rules of Forensic Medical Examination of the severity of harm to health, approved. Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated December 10, 1996 N 407 (Medical newspaper. 1997. N 23, N 34). Due to the fact that the Department of Registration and Control over Departmental Normative Acts of the Ministry of Justice of Russia refused state registration of these Rules due to their contradiction with current legislation (see letter of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated August 15, 2001 N 07/8280-YUD), the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation with his Order No. 361 of September 14, 2001 canceled Order of the Russian Ministry of Health No. 407 of December 10, 1996, which approved these Rules (see also Order of the Russian Ministry of Health No. 119 of March 21, 2003). A legal vacuum has formed. Nevertheless, judicial practice is still guided by the provisions of these Rules. Note scientific ed.

a) life-threatening harm. This is recognized as harm to health that causes a life-threatening condition that can result in death; They can be either physical injuries, diseases or pathological conditions. Life-threatening injuries include, for example, penetrating wounds of the skull and spine, open fractures of long tubular bones, damage to large blood vessels, second-degree burns exceeding 30% of the body surface, etc. This kind of damage, classified as the first group, by its nature poses a threat to the life of the victim. The second group includes injuries that cause the development of a life-threatening condition (coma, massive blood loss, severe shock, etc.);

b) injuries that are not life-threatening and classified as serious in terms of consequences. These include loss of vision, speech, hearing, loss of an organ or loss of an organ’s functions; abortion; mental disorder, drug addiction or substance abuse; permanent facial disfigurement.

2.1. Grave harm also includes infliction of harm that caused a significant permanent loss of general ability to work by at least 1/3 or, knowingly for the perpetrator, a complete loss of the victim’s professional ability to work.

3. Loss of vision is understood as complete permanent blindness in both eyes or a condition where there is a decrease in vision to a visual acuity index of 0.04 or lower (counting fingers at a distance of 2 m and before light perception).

Hearing loss refers to complete deafness or such an irreversible condition when the victim cannot hear spoken speech at a distance of 3 - 5 cm from the auricle.

Loss of vision in one eye and loss of hearing in one ear represent the loss of an organ’s functions and, on this basis, are classified as serious harm to health. The loss of one eyeball is considered the loss of an organ, and the loss of a blind eye is classified based on the duration of the health disorder. When determining the severity of harm, the possibility of improving vision or hearing with the help of medical and technical means (glasses, hearing aids, etc.) is not taken into account.

4. Loss of speech refers to the loss of the ability to express one’s thoughts in articulate sounds that are understandable to others, or the loss of voice.

5. The loss of an organ or loss of its functions means: a) loss of an arm, leg, i.e. their separation from the body or loss of functions (for example, as a result of paralysis). The loss of an arm or leg is equivalent to the loss of the most functionally important part of a limb (hand, foot): such a loss is regarded as grave harm on another basis due to the fact that it entails a permanent loss of working capacity of more than 1/3; b) damage to the genital organs, accompanied by loss of productive capacity. It is understood as the loss of the ability to copulate, fertilize, bear and bear children; c) loss of one testicle, which is the loss of an organ.

6. Termination of pregnancy, regardless of its duration, is recognized as serious harm to health if it is caused by the behavior of the perpetrator, and not by the individual characteristics of the victim’s body or her diseases. It is important to establish that the perpetrator, when causing the damage, was aware that the victim was pregnant.

7. Mental disorder, drug addiction or substance abuse are new types of serious harm to health, unknown to the previous Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As a result of violence or threats from the perpetrator, the victim develops a mental illness or persistent dependence on narcotic, psychotropic or toxic substances. The assessment of the severity of harm to health in these cases is carried out by a forensic medical expert with the participation of a psychiatrist, narcologist, toxicologist after conducting a forensic psychiatric, forensic drug addiction or forensic toxicological examination, respectively.

8. Indelible facial disfigurement is a type of grave harm distinguished according to aesthetic criteria. It gives the victim a repulsive, ugly appearance. To classify damage as grave harm on the basis of the criteria in question, it is necessary to establish two circumstances: the indelibility of the damage and the disfigurement of the face by it.

8.1. The question of whether the damage is erasable is decided by an expert. It should be understood as the possibility of disappearance of the visible consequences of damage or a significant decrease in their severity (i.e., the visibility of scars, deformations, impaired facial expressions, etc.) over time or under the influence of non-surgical means. If cosmetic surgery is required to correct these effects, the damage is considered permanent. Regardless of the conclusion on the issue of indelibility of injuries to the face, the expert establishes their severity based on other indicators of the severity of harm to health.

8.2. The question of disfigurement is a legal, evaluative one. It is decided by the court (investigative bodies) on the basis of generally accepted aesthetic ideas, taking into account all the circumstances of the case.

9. The commented article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation also includes the complete loss of professional ability for victims of an attack on their health as a type of serious harm to health. Professional work capacity is a person’s ability to perform a certain volume and quality of work in a specific profession (pianist, carpenter, surgeon, etc.).

9.1. Complete loss is established in cases where the victim, due to severe impairment of body functions, has absolute medical contraindications for performing any type of professional activity, even in specially created conditions. To impute this type of harm, it is necessary to establish knowledge, i.e. the perpetrator, when causing harm to the health of the victim, knew that this harm could lead to a complete loss of professional ability to work (for example, damage to a pianist’s hand).

10. Harm to health is considered serious if it causes a significant permanent loss of general ability to work by at least 1/3. When determining the amount of permanent loss, the expert is guided by a table of percentages of disability as a result of various injuries. According to this table, for example, removal of a lung means 60% loss of ability to work.

The loss of general ability to work must not only be significant, but also persistent and irreversible. Loss of ability to work should be considered permanent, either with a definite outcome or with a duration of health disorder of more than 120 days.

11. The subjective side of the crime (Part 1 of the commentary article) is characterized by direct and indirect intent. At the same time, intentional infliction of harm, assessed as grave based on the danger to life, should be distinguished from attempted murder precisely on the subjective side. An attempt is made only with direct intent: the perpetrator, realizing the social danger of the shot he made, stabbing him, giving poison, etc., foresees the possibility or inevitability of the death of the victim and wishes to cause this harm. In contrast, this type of grievous harm presupposes indirect intent regarding the fact of death, and due to the fact that it did not occur, the act is qualified under Part 1 of the comment. articles. If death from the inflicted damage, dangerous to the life of the victim, actually occurs, then if there is indirect intent, the act is regarded as murder. If a desire for death is established at the time of causing life-threatening harm, the act is qualified either as murder (if death has occurred) or as attempted murder (if actual deprivation of life has not occurred). Finally, if there is a careless attitude towards the death of the victim with the intentional infliction of harm dangerous to life, there is a crime with two forms of guilt (Article 27 of the Criminal Code).

12. The subject of a criminal offense is a sane individual who has reached 14 years of age.

13. Responsibility for intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm is differentiated by the qualifying circumstances listed in parts 2 - 4 of the commentary. articles. In Part 2, they are recognized as having committed the act specified in Part 1: in relation to a person or his relatives in connection with the performance of official activities by this person or the performance of a public duty; with particular cruelty, humiliation or torture for the victim, as well as in relation to a person who is known to the perpetrator to be in a helpless state; in a generally dangerous manner; for hire; for hooligan reasons; motivated by national, racial, religious hatred or enmity; for the purpose of using the victim’s organs or tissues.

14. The acts provided for in Part 1 or 2 are considered to be committed under specially qualifying circumstances (Part 3) if they were committed: by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior conspiracy or an organized group; against two or more persons.

15. The content of qualifying and specially qualifying features according to the main parameters is similar to those provided for in Part 2 of Art. 105 in relation to murder (see commentary to Art. 105).

15.1. Torment as a method of causing harm to health is understood as actions that cause suffering (illness) through prolonged deprivation of food, drink or heat, or placing (or leaving) the victim in conditions harmful to health, or other similar actions.

15.2. Cases of mockery and other gross violations of human dignity are also considered as bullying.

16. The greatest public danger and at the same time difficulty in terms of law enforcement is the type of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm provided for in Part 4 - a type that negligently resulted in the death of the victim. Outwardly, this crime resembles murder, for example, a stab in a vital part of the body, causing death. In some cases, such an act can be regarded as murder, in others - according to the rules of Part 4 of the comment. articles.

16.1. The distinction here must be made primarily on the subjective side of the act. Part 4 describes two results of this relationship (serious harm to health and death), which correspond to two standards of guilt. If the perpetrator has the intent (direct or indirect) to cause serious harm to the health of the victim, i.e. he foresees at least the possibility of its occurrence and desires or consciously allows such consequences (or is indifferent to them), then the CR occurs under Part 4 of Art. 111. If the perpetrator did not have the intent to cause grievous harm to health, and even more so, if there was no intent to cause harm to health in general, the imputation of Part 4 of Art. 111 is out of the question. These are the situations of the so-called indirect cause of death (blow or push - fall - hitting your head on a hard surface - death).

16.2. Regarding the second result - death - the attitude of the perpetrator is different: he commits negligence. He either foresees the possibility of death from intentionally causing serious harm, but without sufficient grounds he arrogantly hopes to prevent death (frivolity), or does not foresee such a possibility, although with the necessary care and foresight he should and could have foreseen this (negligence). This is, for example, the situation when a knife is stabbed in the thigh, damaging a large blood artery, and death occurs from acute blood loss.

17. Regarding the criteria for distinguishing between murder and intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of the victim through negligence, the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in paragraph. 2, paragraph 3 of Resolution No. 1 of January 27, 1999, emphasized that when deciding the issue of the content of the perpetrator’s intent, it is necessary to proceed from the totality of all the circumstances of the crime. In particular, it is necessary to take into account the method and weapon of the crime, the number, nature and location of damage (for example, injuries to the vital organs of the victim), as well as the previous crime and subsequent behavior of the perpetrator and the victim, their relationship.

18. The acts described in parts 1 and 2 belong to the category of grave crimes, and in parts 3 and 4 - especially grave ones.

Criminal liability for causing damage under Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains several types of punishment for causing serious damage to health.

In the absence of any additional aggravating signs of committing this crime, the accused will be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 8 years.

When a crime falls under Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (unintentional infliction of grievous harm), the culprit will face one of the following sanctions:

a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles or in the amount of earnings (other income) for the last six months;
compulsory work for up to 480 hours;
correctional labor for 2 years or less;
restriction of freedom for a period of 3 years;
arrest for up to six months.

Signs, composition and qualification of intentional infliction

Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in its structure represents a complex composition or a composition with two forms of guilt for causing severe bodily harm (the presence of part 4 in the article with careless causing of death), in general the crime is considered intentional.

The object of the crime is public relations related to the protection of the life and health of a citizen.
The subject is a sane person who has reached the age of fourteen.
The subjective side reflects the presence of intent in general and negligence for the qualified fourth part.
The objective side is the act of a person with criminal intent aimed at causing bodily harm to another person, the consequences in the form of grievous harm and the existence of a causal connection between the act and the consequences.

The article consists of four parts. The first is the main composition and three parts with qualifying characteristics.

PTVZ with qualifying criteria can be committed:

in connection with an official or public duty performed by a person;
in relation to a minor, helpless person, with particular cruelty, mockery, torment of the victim;
in a generally dangerous manner;
for hire;
for hooligan reasons;
motives of political, religious and racial hostility;
for the purposes of using human organs;
use of weapons or objects;
two or more victims;
in a group organized by a group of persons or by prior conspiracy.

Part four, as a qualification, provides for the unintentional death of a person from the injuries caused. This is the most serious sign in this composition, although in its essence it is careless.

What determines the length of punishment that the culprit will receive?

The type of criminal punishment depends on the presence of qualifying characteristics in the committed act. Parts 2 and 3 of Article 111, part 2 of Article 118 are devoted to this

In the first case, Part 2 contains a fairly extensive list of such additional conditions. If one of the following circumstances exists, the longest term of imprisonment will be 10 years + the court may impose restriction of freedom (or without it)

This is when a criminal act (or omission) is committed:

in relation to a person who carried out official activities (performing official duties) or his relatives;
in relation to a minor (he is not yet 14 years old) or a helpless person;
using methods of mockery or torture, or special cruelty;
in a manner considered generally dangerous;
hired person;
for the purpose of hooliganism;
based on motives of hatred (hostility) against the background of politics, ideology, race, nationality or religion;
due to hatred or hostility directed at a particular social group;
for the purpose of obtaining organs or tissues of the victim;
with the use by the culprit of weapons or objects that he used as such.

But this is not all the measures of responsibility. Part 3 of Article 111 includes a number of additional features that complement the previous ones. If one of them is present, imprisonment for a period of up to 12 years is established. Also, restrictions on freedom will be applied for up to 2 years (at the discretion of the court).

Additional terms

Commitment of a criminal act by a group of persons (without conspiracy), either by prior conspiracy, or by an organized group;
causing damage to the health of 2 or more persons.

In addition, if the act was committed in conjunction with the signs from parts 2 and 3 of this article and resulted in the death of the victim due to negligence, the offender will face an even more severe punishment - this is 15 years in prison + possible restriction of freedom for 2 years.

For unintentional grievous harm, the punishment will be tougher provided that the guilty person is a citizen who performed his official duties in bad faith. Under this condition, the accused will face:

restriction of freedom for up to 4 years;
forced labor or imprisonment - for 1 year + deprivation of the right to engage in certain activities (hold positions) for 3 years or without this punishment.

Help : if at least one of the qualifying criteria is present, the committed act moves from the category of grave crimes to the group of especially grave crimes.

What is considered grievous bodily harm?

The concept of grievous bodily harm was previously enshrined in the Russian Criminal Code until 1995 (Article 108). Many people continue to call this composition that way in the old fashioned way.

The modern Criminal Code in Article 111 provides for liability for intentionally causing grievous bodily harm. Let's take a closer look at the grave consequences in criminal law.

The criteria for qualifying signs of causing grievous bodily harm (GHH) to a person are:

Harm that is life-threatening, creating an immediate threat to life, which includes:
various fractures of the skull bones;
intracranial injuries;
wounds and damage to internal organs (tears, cuts, ruptures, etc.);
penetrating wounds of the chest and abdominal cavities (even without damage to internal organs);
and about 10 more positions of damage.
Dangerous harm to health, causing the development of a life-threatening condition:
severe comas;
massive, acute blood loss;
respiratory, cardiac, renal failure of severe degrees;
sepsis and peritonitis;
other conditions.
A person’s loss of vision, speech, hearing or any organ or the loss of an organ’s functions (loss of legs, arms, testicles, genitals).
Abortion.
Mental disorder.
Drug addiction or substance abuse.
Permanent facial disfigurement.
Significant persistent loss of general ability to work by at least one third.
Complete loss of professional ability to work (for example, the hand of an artist or the leg of a professional football player was cut off).

An exhaustive list of criteria is set out in the Appendix to the Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation dated April 24, 2008 N 194, issued on the basis of Resolution No. 522 of 2007.

Composition of the crime and its characteristics

According to Art. 109, the main features of this crime are as follows: :

As a result of certain actions (possibly inaction) of one person, the death of another occurred.
The causing of death was not intentional, i.e. happened by accident.
The actions themselves that caused death were also not intentional. That is, the accused did not pursue the goal of inflicting grievous bodily harm.
The actions or inactions of the accused that led to the situation were fully realized by him. The act implies negligence or frivolity, the consequence of which was the harm caused.

The last point is very important . If a person, suppose, intentionally caused serious harm to the health of his victim, but clearly did not count on a fatal outcome, then this case will be considered by the court under Art. 111, part 4. This carries a prison term of up to 15 years , which radically changes the situation.

REFERENCE. Lawyers point to a frequent situation when it is not clearly established in a case whether harm to health was intentionally caused, although the death of the victim was not part of the plans of the accused, and this has been proven.

Confusion between Art. 111 (clause 4) and art. 109 may result in too little punishment for a truly guilty person or too high a penalty for a person who committed a crime through negligence. Much depends on a good evidence base and the professionalism of the lawyer.

Art . 109 .

The concept of "criminal negligence" . A situation where the defendant failed to foresee that his actions or inactions could lead to death for another person. It is worth noting that this implies that it was possible to foresee such events.
The concept of "criminal frivolity" . A situation where the accused realized that the death of another person as a result of his inaction or action was possible, but assumed a different outcome of events, and without any particular reason. For example, a person hoped that this would not happen.

According to numerous publications by lawyers and advocates, Art. 109 is one of the most difficult to interpret events and separate them. Many cases turn out to be controversial for a number of reasons :

the impossibility of accurately determining whether the accused was aware of the consequences;
whether the actions were intentional;
as well as the degree of his guilt.

Much depends on the circumstances of the case and witness testimony.

Statistics

There are no exact statistics on such cases, although official websites have figures for individual years. Moreover, they do not even appear in a separate column - they are simply mentioned under the table. If we take general indicators, then for every 1 million crimes of various nature there are 2-3.5 thousand cases where death was caused by negligence .

Fatal accidents , where responsibility for what happened lies with the driver, deserve special consideration. These offenses may also fall under the law on causing death by negligence, that is, under Article 109 of the Criminal Code.

In some years, the number of deaths reaches 70%, if calculated as a percentage. In general, their indicator “stays” at a high level.