Lessons of judicial practice of extending the provisions of Article 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to the category of serious crimes

Safonov Vladimir N., Petrovsky Nikolay K.

The article analyzes the trend of judicial practice in applying the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on exemption from criminal liability with the imposition of a court fine (Article 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) of persons who have committed a serious crime. It is stated that the procedural decision to release a person who has committed a serious crime from responsibility is preceded by a change by the courts of the category of crime to the category of medium gravity. The absence of a single procedural form of the final procedural document is revealed, since in some cases the decision to release from criminal responsibility is taken by the courts in the form of a sentence, in others – by a court decision. The thesis about the inconsistency of such practice with the requirements of substantive and procedural law is substantiated. It is concluded that the provisions of Article 76.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation should not be extended to the category of serious crimes due to the contradiction to the constitutional principle of separation of powers, the criminal law principles of legality and justice. The necessity of excluding Part 6 of Article 15 of the Criminal Code from the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is justified.

Keywords:exemption from criminal liability; judicial fine; categories of crimes; change in the category of crime; the principle of legality; the principle of justice.