Statute of limitations under Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Almost any offense has its own statute of limitations. This period is considered to be a certain period of time after which punishment for a crime is not provided for by law.

The statute of limitations for murder in the Russian Federation depends on the severity of the crime and is determined by the court individually. It is important to know that a serious crime loses the need to apply punishment no earlier than after 2 years. There are also crimes against life and health that have no statute of limitations. And regardless of the deferment of punishment, for example, due to the serious illness of the accused, he will have to answer before the law even after 20 years.

Murder in the eyes of the law

Russian legislation explains murder in a rather narrow sense - this term means intentionally causing death. However, in a broader sense, only a planned and carried out attack on someone else’s life is considered criminal and legally punishable.

The term “murder” still causes serious controversy among legal scholars. Therefore, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation allocates one article to murder, the rest can be classified as causing death.

Thus, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the section “Crimes against life and health” contains an article for premeditated murder with serious consequences for the act committed, and all the rest are considered murder with a privileged corpus delicti.

In case of relapse

Separately, it is necessary to mention the calculation of terms in the event that there is a relapse of crimes. This concept refers to a situation where a person who already has an outstanding conviction for an intentional crime repeatedly commits the same intentional crime.

Since in Russian law only intentional causing of death is recognized as murder, the repeated commission of this crime during an unexpunged conviction will always be a recidivism.

Relapse is classified in accordance with Art. 18 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation into ordinary, dangerous and especially dangerous. This classification is relevant in the following cases:

When assigning punishment. The more dangerous the degree of relapse, the closer to the highest limit the punishment is imposed.
When determining the place of serving the sentence - from a settlement colony (if there is no relapse) to a special regime colony (in case of a particularly dangerous recidivism).

However, when calculating the statute of limitations for murders, recidivism will not matter. For each crime committed, the term will be calculated independently (Part 2 of Article 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

In this case, the rules on recidivism do not apply, only the rules on calculating the amount of punishment for a set of crimes (if all of them were considered in one criminal case) or sentences are used (if two or more criminal cases were opened against one specific person for different offenses) .

Recidivism should not be confused with aggregation of crimes. This term refers to a situation where the guilty person, although he committed several crimes (even if they were similar), was not sentenced for any of them.

Punishment for murder

Types of offenses directed against life can be either particularly serious or of moderate severity. The most serious crimes are those committed with intent. Intentional murder (Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is the purposeful and planned infliction of death. Punishable by a prison term of 6 to 15 years.

According to the second part of the article, which contains aggravating circumstances, the offender will face imprisonment from 8 to 20 years, or life imprisonment, or the death penalty.

Reference. The death penalty has not been abolished by law in Russia. However, since 1996, since Russia joined the Council of Europe, a moratorium has been imposed on the death penalty - execution is replaced by life imprisonment.

Privileged elements of crime:

Murder of a newborn by its own mother (Article 106 of the Criminal Code). The special mental and physical state of a woman during or immediately after childbirth, which could push her to kill her own child, is considered a mitigating circumstance. Punishable by 2 to 4 years.
Murder in a state of passion (Article 107 of the Criminal Code) is a crime preceded by cruel insults, violence and bullying towards the victim. Punishable by a term of 3 years. For the murder of several people in a state of passion, the term increases to 5 years.
Murder when exceeding the limits of self-defense (Article 108 of the Criminal Code) is not considered murder until the court proves that the perpetrator deliberately defended himself by unacceptable means in order to cause the death of the victim. Punishable by up to 2 years.
Causing death by negligence (Article 109 of the Criminal Code) is not considered murder from the point of view of law, since the perpetrator did not want, and in most cases did not intend, a fatal outcome for the victim. Punishable by up to 2 years. In aggravating circumstances, when several people died, the term increases to 4 years.

Note. The application of statutes of limitations for each type of crime described above varies greatly. This measure does not apply to some of them.

Attempted murder

Attempted murder, of course, can be classified as a serious prohibited act, for which the criminal norms of the Russian Federation provide for appropriate types of punishment.

The very concept of “attempt” means the absence of a direct result, which was previously intended by the organizer of this act. But, at the same time, it presupposes the obligatory presence of deliberate intent, in which the person knew about the subsequent negative consequences and really wanted them to occur.

In order for an attempt to be recognized as such, it must have all the established signs of a dangerous act. The main features include the following:

the presence of a direct object. In this case, the object is the life of a citizen, on which an attempt is made;
definition of a subject - a person who commits an attempted murder. In this case, they must be a person who has reached the age of majority and also has full legal capacity;
subjective side. Attempted murder must be characterized by the presence of proven premeditation in the actions of the accused. If this circumstance is not properly confirmed, the application of a certain penalty will be unlawful;
the objective side is determined by the presence of specific external signs that can confirm the entire composition of unlawful actions.

The penalty for attempted murder will certainly be imprisonment. The exact period depends on the immediate circumstances of the case, as well as on the presence or absence of aggravating factors.

The legislation of the Russian Federation establishes a certain period of limitation in relation to such a dangerous act as attempted murder. According to general rules, it will be 15 years. The starting point in this case will also be the moment when the attempt was committed.

If the violation of criminal norms was committed over an extended period of time, the last prohibited act is taken into account.

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Application of statutes of limitations

Article 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation determines the statute of limitations in criminal cases. The statute of limitations is affected by the severity of the crime committed:

for especially serious crimes - 15 years;
for serious crimes - 10 years;
for crimes of average gravity – 6 years;
for crimes of minor gravity – 2 years.

Depending on the qualifying criteria, intentional causing of death is considered a grave or especially grave crime , therefore, the statute of limitations for murder is 10-15 years.

Reference. Despite the fact that a particularly serious crime has a statute of limitations of 15 years, the court can refuse this privilege and continue the investigation even after several decades. Such decisions are made individually - it all depends on how socially dangerous the crime was and how lawfully the perpetrator behaved during this period.

For privileged crimes, the following statute of limitations is provided:

the murder of an infant by a mother is classified as a crime of medium gravity, exemption from criminal prosecution occurs after 5 years;
murder committed in a state of passion is considered a crime of minor gravity - criminal liability is removed after 2 years;
exceeding the limits of self-defense resulting in the death of the attacker is also considered a crime of minor gravity - the need for punishment lapses after 2 years.

Reference. The statute of limitations begins to run on the day after the commission of the crime at 00:00. In cases where the accused is absconding from justice, this period is suspended.

When to use

The law provides for the possibility of applying Part 1 of Art. 78 at different stages of the process:

A preliminary investigation presupposes the possibility of releasing the perpetrator from liability if the investigator so wishes. As a rule, murder investigations are not accompanied by such a decision. In such cases, the defense attorney or the accused must file a motion. The absence of a lawyer by agreement often leads to a failure to apply the law. If the investigator proposes release, the consent of the accused must be obtained.

In cases where the statute of limitations expires at the time the case file is transferred to the trial court, the petition must be filed and considered at a preliminary hearing. Failure to act correctly on the part of the defendant can lead to dire consequences.
It is possible to apply statutes of limitations at the trial stage. In this case, it is also necessary to obtain the consent of the defendant, which must be recorded in the protocol.

You should know that the court hearing a criminal case is not interested in applying statutes of limitations against murderers. It is necessary for the defense to initiate consideration of this possibility. Only competent actions of a lawyer will allow the defendant to remain free.

Crimes without statute of limitations

Russia follows global legal norms. According to them, the statute of limitations cannot be applied to persons who have committed crimes against the peace and security of people.

Such crimes include:

terrorism – Art. 205 and 361 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
ecocide and genocide – Art. 356 and 353 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
hostage taking - Art. 206 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
unleashing and conducting hostilities - Art. 352 and 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
hijacking of air, land, railway transport - Art. 211 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
encroachment on the life of a statesman or public figure – Art. 277 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
violent seizure of power - Art. 278 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation;
armed rebellion - Art. 279 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Hijacking of air or water transport is considered a serious or especially serious crime due to the fact that this type of crime is associated with illegal border crossings, casualties, hostage-taking and serious material damage.

Exceptions

The statute of limitations has its exceptions. The legislation provides a list of crimes that cannot be forgiven either after two years or after fifteen years. All these crimes are united by their severity, since they can claim a large number of human lives and cause serious damage to society.

So, the number of crimes for which the statute of limitations does not apply includes the following options:

terrorism or actions facilitating a terrorist act. Terrorism is a method of manipulation that is used by extremist (usually) organizations to influence the activities of a particular state by inducing panic. Terrorist acts may include undeclared wars, explosions in crowded places, assassinations of politicians, disruption of communications between countries, and so on;
Terrorism does not imply a statute of limitations
hostilities. According to Articles 353 and 356 of the Criminal Code, military actions are also included in the list of serious crimes. In this case, we are talking about the so-called aggressive war, which involves active aggressive actions and the use of prohibited weapons, leading to mass casualties;
genocide. As history shows, genocide can take on a global scale, leading to the systematic extermination of people on racial, national or religious grounds. In addition to direct killing, genocide also includes imposing restrictions on childbearing for certain groups of people. At the moment, genocide is one of the most serious crimes;
Genocide is one of the most serious crimes
ecocide. Ecocide is a relatively new concept, appearing in Article 358 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It involves the destruction of natural resources, which is carried out through water or air pollution, as well as the destruction of animals or vegetation. All such actions can lead to an environmental disaster, and their destructive consequences are unpredictable.

Reference. Acts associated with terrorism include acts such as the seizure of government officials, the forcible retention of power, the organization of civil uprisings, and attacks on internationally protected persons.

Ecocide can lead to a large-scale environmental disaster

Using the statute of limitations to avoid responsibility

The previous Criminal Code excluded punishment for a murderer who had been hiding from investigation for 15 years. With the only condition - during this period the perpetrator should not have committed a single offense.

In the modern Code, adopted in 1996, such a measure is excluded. Now the statute of limitations is suspended until the perpetrator is detained or appears before law enforcement authorities on his own. The statute of limitations can only expire for reasons beyond the control of the offender.

It is unlikely that the criminal will be able to independently delay the application of punishment and thereby wait until the statute of limitations expires.

It is only possible to defer the term of serving the sentence. But, firstly, the deferment applies only to women and men - the only parent of a child under 14 years of age, and secondly, the deferment is not provided for serious and especially serious crimes.

From what moment is it counted?

In order to apply the statute of limitations for both bringing to criminal responsibility and serving a sentence, you need to know from what moment these periods are counted. The following rules apply here:

For bringing to justice, the period is counted from the day when the crime was committed until the moment when the court verdict entered into legal force.
After serving the sentence, the term begins to run from the moment the sentence came into force and runs until the end provided for in Art. 83 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In this case, it is considered that the end of the period is 00 hours 00 minutes of the day following the expiration date.
If the exact date of the crime is unknown, the criminal case file indicates the time range during which the murder was committed. If it is not possible to accurately determine the date, the statute of limitations begins to count from the upper limit of this range - that is, from the latest possible date.

Principles of Calculus

When calculating the statute of limitations, you need to take into account that it can not only last, but also be suspended. Here, criminal law provides for the following principles:

The statute of limitations regarding prosecution is suspended for the period that the perpetrator evades and hides from investigation, trial or payment of a court fine.
The statute of limitations for punishment is suspended for the period while the convicted person evades serving the sentence.
The deadlines begin to run again from the moment the perpetrator is detained or surrenders.
According to the terms of execution of the punishment, those of them that had already expired by the time the convicted person began to evade punishment are subject to credit.

Reasons

The issue of determining grounds is quite controversial in public law.

On the one hand, it is believed that over time, an illegal action committed by a citizen loses its social significance.

This position is controversial, since the crime committed was a violation of the law and caused harm to other members of society.

On the other hand, the imprisonment of a guilty person after a long time has passed since he committed illegal actions does not make sense.

Also, there is an opinion that the exemplary behavior of a lawbreaker who is at large for a long time after he has committed a crime is the basis for eliminating the need to punish him for past offenses.

The main reason for establishing time limits for a criminal offense is the impossibility of carrying out investigative measures at the proper level after a large amount of time has passed after the commission of the crime.

Evidence is gradually lost, the reliability of witness testimony decreases, evidence is lost, etc.