Repeat Offenses Code

A draft of a new Code of Administrative Offenses has been submitted to the Duma.

As in the draft submitted at the beginning of 2015, it says that offenses are divided, depending on the harm to the public interest, into “gross”, “significant” and “less significant”. In this case, as in the previous draft, there is no list of gross violations, but, judging by the severity of the punishment, violations at public events are classified as gross. It is curious that back in the summer of 2015, the government, in its response to the previous draft, criticized this division and called for only gross violations to be left in the text. The classification of violations at events as gross was criticized by the authors of an independent examination of the draft Code of Administrative Offenses.

Among the punishments for gross offenses are correctional labor and a ban on attending mass events and specific places for a period of three months to a year. (The government also criticized these provisions, which existed in the previous version of the draft Code of Administrative Offenses, stating that they restrict, among other things, the right of citizens to assemble peacefully and without weapons, guaranteed by Article 31 of the Constitution.) location or “appear on the day of the relevant public, official sports and other mass events at the internal affairs body”.

In addition, a lot of emphasis in the new Code of Administrative Offenses is placed on repeated violations: in some articles, the relevant parts have been added. Penalties for repeated violations at public events were first introduced to the Code of Administrative Offenses in the summer of 2014 as part of the tightening of restrictions on freedom of assembly. The draft introduces the concepts of “continued”, “homogeneous”, “repeated”, “repeated” offense. “Continued” is one that “consists of a series of actions or inactions similar in direction and content.” "Homogeneous" - described in one article. “Repeated” is “homogeneous committed by the same person at least twice”, if the statute of limitations for bringing to administrative responsibility for the first of them has not expired. The statute of limitations for most administrative offenses is one year. “Repeated” is “uniform”, committed during the period when a person is considered subject to administrative responsibility (for gross offenses, such a period ends three years after the end of the execution of the court order).

The articles regulating the exercise of the right to freedom of assembly are included in the new code as offenses against public safety (previously these were offenses against public order as well). In the article “Violation of the established procedure for organizing or holding a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession or picketing” (currently 20.2 , in the draft - 37.1 ) for holding an event without filing a notification (Part 2) and for violating the procedure for holding an event by a participant ( 5th part) the punishment is supposed to be the same as now (up to ten days of arrest and up to 40 hours of compulsory labor, respectively). A new, 6th part appeared in the article - violation by the participant of the procedure for conducting, causing harm to health or property: the maximum punishment is up to fifteen days of arrest. For a repeated violation (currently the 8th, in the draft - the 9th part), the punishment is supposed to be the same as now (up to 30 days of arrest); at the same time, the possibility of a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles remains, although the article on an administrative fine specifically stipulates that the maximum administrative fine for gross violations is 100 thousand. The requirement of the Constitutional Court to reduce the minimum fine under Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, expressed back in 2013, was never taken into account.

Article 20.2.2 - "Organization of mass simultaneous stay and (or) movement of citizens in public places that have caused a violation of public order" - in the draft is number 37.2 . The system of punishments remained the same (up to fifteen days of arrest, in case of repeated violation - up to thirty).

The article on petty hooliganism (now 20.1 ), according to which protocols were often drawn up against participants in peaceful actions, migrated to the chapter on violations of public order and public morality. This article is numbered 13.1 in the draft . The punishment for petty hooliganism has changed: the maximum amount of the fine is now not a thousand, but twenty thousand rubles, it has also become possible to punish with corrective labor for up to a month or mandatory up to forty hours. The very wording of the article has also changed, it has become less specific: now petty hooliganism is not “a violation of public order, expressing clear disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in public places, offensive harassment of citizens, as well as the destruction or damage to other people's property”, but “insulting harassment of citizens, obscene language or other deliberate actions expressing obvious disrespect for the individual and (or) society, violating public order and (or) peace of mind of citizens, as well as associated with the destruction or damage to other people's property.” For petty hooliganism, associated with disobedience to the lawful demand of a representative of the authorities (2nd part), the fine increases from two and a half to thirty thousand and correctional labor for up to two months or mandatory up to eighty hours is added. The possibility of arrest up to fifteen days in both cases remains. Finally, a new part appears - the repeated commission of an offense, for which they can be fined 50 thousand, sent for two months to corrective labor, for mandatory up to eighty hours, or for all the same fifteen days of arrest.

It should be noted that the government, in its response to the previous version of the draft, called for refusing to increase the amount of fines "many times higher than the minimum amount of a criminal fine."

Article “Disobedience to a lawful order of a police officer, a serviceman, an employee of the authorities for the control of the circulation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, an employee of the federal security service, an employee of state security agencies, an employee of bodies authorized to exercise the functions of control and supervision in the field of migration, or an employee body or institution of the penitentiary system "in the draft, as now, is included in the chapter on violations against the order of administration (the current number is 19.3 , the new one is 33.4 ). The fine under this article in its most common first part (which refers to an employee protecting public order or ensuring public safety) has also increased - from a thousand to fifteen thousand, and correctional labor up to two months and compulsory work up to 80 hours have also been added ( the text of the bill says "eighty thousand"); the possibility of administrative arrest for fifteen days remains. The punishment for a repeated offense (up to five thousand arrests or up to 30 days of arrest) remains unchanged.

The article on “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors”, currently related to violations that infringe on health and public morals (Art. 6.21 ), has been moved in the draft to offenses that infringe on the family and rights of minors (Art. 10.15 ). The fine for such propaganda doubled, from five to ten thousand (in the case of using the Internet, the fine remained the same - up to one hundred thousand).