COMMENTARY BY MARTIN ZARBABYAN IN THE ADVOKATSKAYA GAZETA
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation: the accused actively contributed to the investigation of the crime, therefore, is subject to release from criminal liability.
A citizen acted as an intermediary in the transfer of bribes for two years, and then voluntarily filed a statement about the crime committed before the investigation was launched and the case was opened against the bribe-taker. The citizen's lawyer petitioned for the latter to be released from criminal liability due to the defendant's voluntary notification of the crime committed (by virtue of the note to Article 291 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on active participation in the investigation).
- The first instance court rejected the lawyer's petition, stating that law enforcement became aware of the fact of the bribe-giving in connection with the operational search activities conducted against the bribe-taker, but not in connection with the citizen's statement. The citizen was found guilty of attempted bribe-giving to an official.
- The appeal and cassation courts upheld the sentence.
- The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation decided otherwise: some materials of the criminal case showed an indisputable fact that the convicted person voluntarily appeared before law enforcement agencies, presented documents and reported the illegal activity of the bribe-taker.
Martin Zarbabyan, a lawyer in the criminal law and process practice at Infralex, explained:
“The main idea is for persons who have committed crimes to “reveal” them themselves by reporting them to law enforcement agencies, which in the context of criminal law policy is aimed at identifying hidden criminal acts, combating corruption and observing the principle of procedural economy. The unfounded refusal to release a person from criminal liability when voluntarily reporting the commission of such a crime calls into question the effectiveness of the institution of release from liability.”
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation corrected the mistake made by the lower courts and, whatismore, announced an important idea for the effective practice of investigating such offenses: “voluntary reporting of a crime and active assistance in its disclosure (as intended by the legislator) should be welcomed by the law enforcement.”
If the right to exemption from liability by law is not guaranteed, then the process of identifying and detecting such offenses will be delayed, which, in turn, may negatively affect the economic and social situation.