Telephone hooliganism: article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in 2021, punishment, where to go?

Very often, 112 service employees receive so-called hooligan calls.

Anonymous callers call and report, for example, that a bomb has been planted in a certain building, or that there has been a fire or a gas leak on a specific street. Specialists send a team to respond to the call, but it turns out that it is false.

What, in this case, could threaten the unfortunate subscriber? What article is provided in the Criminal Code of Russia (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for telephone hooliganism?

What is telephone hooliganism?

Constant threats, vulgarities, indiscreet questions that pester the subscriber - all this refers to telephone hooliganism. That is, these are actions carried out using a telephone, aimed at violating a person’s privacy, rights to rest, as well as words that insult him.

Telephone hooligans can maliciously play a prank on a person, threaten him with one goal - to cause fear or anger in him.

Telephone hooliganism includes calls that have the following characteristics::

regularity . If someone constantly calls a person and threatens him or has a conversation on the same topic, and the person receiving the call begins to worry and get nervous, then this can be attributed to telephone hooliganism;
providing false information . For example, a caller reports some kind of misfortune, imitates a voice, introduces himself as a different person, reports a bomb threat, etc.;
the desire to bring a person into dialogue, as well as to provoke a reaction in him.

Telephone harassment does not include calls that do not have a negative connotation and cannot in any way cause harm to the victim.

For example, if they call and prank a person, then the caller will not be held accountable for this.

Reporting hooliganism by phone to the police

In order for the police to respond and help a person who is being harassed by a bully over the phone, the victim needs to write a statement. It is written by hand in free form, and submitted at the place of actual residence.

The application must consist of three parts:

"A cap". In the upper right corner you must write to whom the application is addressed (the chief of police of such and such a district, indicate his full name). Under the addressee's details, enter the applicant's details - full name (written in full), residential address, telephone number.
Main part. Here the person must describe in detail when they called, what they threatened, etc.
Date and signature of the applicant at the time of application.

After considering the application, a police officer competent in this matter conducts an investigation and provides the applicant with a written response on the measures taken to suppress the fact of telephone hooliganism.

Categories of calls recognized as telephone hooliganism

All false calls are divided into 3 categories:

Unreasonable calls . For example, it seems to the caller that a stream of steam rising from the ground is the source of a fire.
Hooligan dialers . For example, a student was tired of sitting in class and decided to have fun: he called 112 and reported a fire, and then watched with pleasure the emergency evacuation of all students and school staff.
Telephone terrorism . This type of false call includes a person reporting an explosive device planted in a building.

Drawing up an application and its sample

Despite the difficulty of proving the offense, you should not give up and you can try to write a statement to the relevant authorities.

It must contain an introductory part listing the details, that is, the name of the body, position and full name of the addressee, address and full name, cell phone number of the applicant.

What follows is a description of the hooliganism, the time it occurred, its frequency, what events it entailed, and what it included (for example, threats, rudeness, obscene language).

Then a request is made to identify and punish the hooligan. Applications are added (for example, audio recording of a telephone conversation). At the very end, the filing number and signature are placed.

A statement about telephone hooliganism may look something like this:

How to deal with telephone bullying in 2021?

There are several ways to deal with a telephone bully:

Ignoring the call . If you already know the phone number of the caller and you know that the person will pester you and pester you, then you simply do not need to pick up the phone. You can also blacklist an unwanted phone number or set an answering machine to this number. You can also pick up the phone, but not talk to the bully, but simply give him the opportunity to speak out (if he wants it). Sooner or later he will hang up on his own.
Contacting the police . You need to contact law enforcement agencies if the telephone abuser greatly harasses or even blackmails the subscriber or uses his personal data. In order to write a statement to the police, you must have evidence. A recording of a conversation with a hooligan, which must be attached to the application, may serve as evidence.
Contacting the prosecutor's office . You need to go to this authority only after the police refuse to accept the applicant’s application or do not consider his complaint or do anything to identify and punish the hooligan.

Under no circumstances should you call back the annoying number. After all, a forwarding function can be installed on it, due to which the subscriber can be transferred to a paid service.

Where to go in case of telephone hooliganism?

If a person does not know the identity of the caller, then he needs to contact the police.

If the phone hooligan is someone you know, then you can skip going to the police and go straight to court.

Where to apply

Despite the fact that it is difficult to prove such an offense, the victim of calls can try to hold the offender accountable by writing a statement against the calling attacker.

A complaint against an annoying interlocutor should be submitted to the police department in your area of residence. The prankster's antics must be described in detail. It is advisable to provide recordings of conversations.

The police must conduct an investigation into the complaint of the victim of annoying calls. As soon as all the facts stated by the applicant are double-checked, police officers must provide the victim with an answer on the merits of the questions raised in the application, and then either initiate a case or refuse to initiate it. The answer is given in writing.

If it is not possible to obtain action from the police, the victim is left with:

Visit the prosecutor's office with a complaint about the inaction of employees (for example, refusal to accept an appeal, refusal to initiate a case, or incomplete verification activities).
Appeal the inaction of the police to higher authorities (superior body or official), as well as to the district court.

After considering the complaint, the police may be required to eliminate violations of the Code of Criminal Procedure, cancel the illegal refusal, acknowledge the incompleteness of the inspection and give instructions on carrying out specific verification activities.

Contents of the statement

The application is drawn up in a standard form and has the following parts:

Introductory – information about the addressee and applicant.
Descriptive - contains an indication of the circumstances of the calls (dates and times, duration of conversations, their content). It is necessary to explain exactly how the victim’s rights were violated:
hints of harm or open threats;
night calls.
Petition - contains a request to identify the caller and apply sanctions to him.
List of attachments - you can indicate evidence, if available.
Address for sending a response.
Date of filing, signature of the applicant.

If an application for a crime is filed, the applicant must be warned under Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, on liability for false denunciation, that is, accusing an innocent person of a crime.

Deadlines for consideration of applications

If a victim of telephone hooligans files a crime report, it will be considered in accordance with Parts 1 and 3 of Art. 144 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation. The decision on such an appeal is made:

Within 3 days from the date of acceptance - as a general rule.
Within 10 days - at the request of the official conducting the inspection.
Up to 30 days - if it is necessary to carry out individual verification activities that require significant time expenditure - audits, research, examinations, operational investigative activities.

If the prankster’s actions relate to an administrative offense, then an investigation based on the victim’s report is carried out within 30 days.

If at the end of this period the police officers do not provide a response, the victim can contact the prosecutor's office.

What kind of telephone hooliganism will happen?

Telephone hooliganism can be both an administrative and a criminal offense. It all depends on the nature of the incoming calls.

Administrative liability for telephone hooliganism occurs if the caller is annoying with his calls, calls at night or regularly for several days. At the same time, he threatens the subscriber with violence, pesters him, intimidates him, etc.

Such acts will be classified as administrative offenses that infringe on public order.

In Art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for the following liability for petty hooliganism, which includes annoying calls:

fine from 500 to 1000 rubles;
administrative arrest for up to 15 days.

If the caller reports that there is a bomb planted in the building, the building has been set on fire, etc., then he faces criminal liability under Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Knowingly false report about an act of terrorism.”

For such an offense the perpetrator may be punished as follows:

fine 200-500 thousand rubles;
restriction of freedom for up to 3 years;
forced labor for a period of 1 to 3 years.

If a telephone message is received about an explosion, arson or other action that creates a danger to people, committed in relation to a social infrastructure facility (house, enterprise, kindergarten, school, etc.), and as a result of the actions of the relevant authorities to prevent dangerous consequences of major damage (over 1 million rubles), then the culprit faces the following punishment:

monetary penalty in the amount of 500-700 thousand rubles;
imprisonment for a period of 3-5 years.

Features of the crime

Telephone hooliganism began to be practiced since the introduction of telephony among the general public. If earlier jokes could be completely harmless and immediately forgotten, today everything is much more serious.

Modern jokers have special equipment and devices with which they can process voices, edit recordings, and then post them on the World Wide Web for general fun or to receive money.

Today, telephone hooliganism is mainly practiced for several purposes:

Used to provoke anger and obscene language in the victim.
Used to make a nice joke with the victim, to bring him into a frank conversation.
To find out from the victim any information that cannot be obtained in any other way, it is usually practiced on famous personalities.

Each type of telephone hooliganism should not go unpunished; it is possible and necessary to fight them.

Answers on questions

Question : “I’m fed up with calls from one online store where I previously purchased goods. Calls are coming in daily. Does auto-dialing fall into the category of telephone hooliganism and can an online store be punished for this?”

Answer : If we are talking about automatic dialers, then you cannot punish. The perpetrators can only be held accountable if the callers make threats or are rude.

Question : “What punishment for telephone hooliganism awaits the culprit?”

Answer : It all depends on the specific case. If the caller says there is a bomb in the building, then he faces criminal penalties. If the caller simply interferes with sleep or swears, then such an offense will be considered petty hooliganism, for which the guilty person can be brought to administrative responsibility.

Question : “What calls can be considered petty hooliganism?”

Answer : These are those calls in which the caller threatens the health, life of the subscriber or violates public order.

Question : “Do threatening SMS messages belong to the concept of telephone hooliganism?”

Answer : Yes, if they are systematic.

Question : “What is the maximum fine for telephone hooliganism?”

Answer : If we are talking about petty hooliganism, then the amount of the fine is limited to 1,500 rubles. If we are talking about telephone terrorism, then the maximum fine is 2 million rubles (if actions aimed at preventing an impending explosion or arson resulted in the death of a person).

Question : “How to prove that the caller turned out to be a telephone hooligan?”

Answer : It is necessary to record the conversation with the hooligan and provide the recording to law enforcement agencies. You can also make a printout of calls, which will indicate how often the caller made unwanted calls.

Not every subscriber who makes false telephone calls that have signs of telephone hooliganism is brought to criminal liability.

If the actions of a joker are associated with a violation of the privacy and peace of an individual, then the culprit may face administrative liability (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

If the call is characterized as an act of terrorism or a violation of public safety, then the joker faces criminal liability under Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

To suppress the fact of telephone hooliganism, you must file a complaint with the police, prosecutor's office or court, be sure to attach to the document a recording of telephone conversations with the hooligan.

Procedure

If you have become a victim of telephone hooligans, we recommend that you do the following:

Behave with the bully extremely politely, correctly, and speak in a calm tone. In most cases, such a reaction is not interesting to the callers, and without waiting for screams, threats, or hysterics on your part, they will leave you alone;
If calm behavior does not bring the expected effect, you should warn the hooligans that you intend to contact the police with a statement to bring the persons making the calls to justice. In the conversation, emphasis should be placed on the fact that such treatment is grounds for putting the phone on wiretapping, which means that hooligans will be quickly identified and punished;
In a situation where the calls have not stopped, the next step is to contact law enforcement agencies. When an application is accepted, it must be immediately registered and a notification coupon issued to you. Upon request, an inspection is carried out, as a result of which a criminal case is initiated under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
, or a decision is made to refuse to initiate a criminal case.
In parallel with this, if it is refused to initiate a case against hooligans, an administrative protocol may be drawn up under Art.
20.1 “petty hooliganism” .

False denunciation (telephone terrorism)

Another telephone offense is when a message about explosives is transmitted. In this case, the perpetrator faces liability, implying the payment of a large fine, long-term compulsory labor, but more often - imprisonment.

If such a telephone message caused serious consequences and also caused significant damage, the size of the fine and the term of imprisonment are increased.

Such jokers should know that responsibility for reporting an impending explosion begins at the age of 14 and is regulated by Article 207 of the Russian Criminal Code. The maximum possible punishment in this case is 3 years. Impressive fines (up to 200,000 rubles) and compensation for losses for carrying out inspection activities are provided (Articles 1073, 1074 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).