The imposition of a disciplinary sanction on a soldier is allowed in the event of a disciplinary offense. They call them guilty, unlawful behavior, expressed in violation of discipline, which, according to the norms of the current legislation, does not entail administrative or criminal liability.
Disciplinary liability for administrative violations occurs in accordance with the Charter, unless sanctions are imposed on a general basis. Moreover, penalties in the form of corrective labor and arrest cannot be applied to the guilty, and to sailors, sergeants, foremen and soldiers who are in the ranks of the Armed Forces on appeal, to students of military educational institutions before concluding a contract with them, also sanctions in the form of a fine.
A serviceman may be brought to disciplinary liability if his guilt is established. Let us further consider the features of the application of penalties.
General information
The legislation provides for incentives and disciplinary sanctions for military personnel. The former are applied for certain merits. For example, the reward may be for high professionalism in the execution of the order.
Disciplinary punishment of a serviceman - a measure of responsibility of a person established by the state for an offense committed by him. It is used to prevent new offenses both by the perpetrators themselves and their co-workers.
Classification
The charter provides for the following types of disciplinary sanctions for military personnel:
- Disciplinary arrest.
- Deduction from fees.
- Expulsion from a military educational institution.
- Early dismissal from service due to failure to fulfill the terms of the contract.
- Decrease in rank by 1 step with demotion.
- Decrease in rank by 1 step.
- Demotion.
- Depriving the badge of excellent service.
- Incomplete warning.
- Deprivation of dismissal from the ship to the shore or from the location of the military unit.
- Strict reprimand.
- Rebuke.
The commanders of individual battalions (ships of the 2nd, 3rd ranks), of individual military units, using the powers of the battalion commander on the basis of Article 11 of the Charter, can impose the sanctions enshrined in paragraphs e - g of Art. 59 of the Charter.
It should be noted that not all military personnel the types of disciplinary sanctions mentioned above can be applied. Thus, disciplinary arrest cannot be imposed on female employees who are in the ranks of the Armed Forces as midshipmen and ensigns.
General procedure for the application of disciplinary sanctions to military personnel
A person who has committed an offense may be charged only with the sanctions provided for by the Charter, which correspond to his rank and the powers of the chief (commander) making the corresponding decision. A hearing must be held before its removal. It is necessary to identify the perpetrators, to identify the conditions and reasons that contributed to the assumption of misconduct.
The proceedings and the subsequent imposition of disciplinary sanctions on a soldier are usually carried out by the direct chief of the person who committed the violation, or by another employee authorized by one of the direct commanders. In this case, the subject appointed for the internal investigation must be in the rank and hold a position not lower than the rank and position of the culprit.
In the cases provided for in Article 75 of the Charter, the proceedings are carried out by the senior naval commander, commander or military commandant of the garrison, the head of military roads, military communications by means of transport, the commandant of the water (railway) section and port (station, airport) or by persons appointed by them.
As a rule, an internal investigation is carried out without writing materials. The exception is cases when the chief (commander) sent a request for the provision of documents reflecting the proceedings.
The materials in the case of gross disciplinary violation are made exclusively in writing.
Circumstances to be established
The application of disciplinary sanction to a soldier is allowed after revealing all the facts confirming his guilt in the commission of an offense. To do this, during the trial it is necessary to establish:
- Misconduct event. In particular, authorized persons conducting an internal investigation must determine the place, method, time and other circumstances of the violation.
- The employee involved in the misconduct.
- The guilt of a person in committing a violation, its form, as well as the motives of illegal actions.
- Information characterizing the identity of the employee.
- The presence and nature of the negative consequences that arose as a result of a disciplinary offense.
- Factors excluding liability of a person.
- Circumstances aggravating or mitigating punishment.
- The degree and nature of the participation of each employee in the commission of an offense, if several persons are involved in it.
- Conditions and reasons that contributed to the unlawful actions.
- Other circumstances that are essential for deciding on the imposition of a specific disciplinary sanction on the military personnel and the period of application.
The same applies to the grounds for its removal. The chief (commander) may decide to impose disciplinary punishment on the serviceman within the limits of his authority or, within ten days, to forward the proceedings to the higher management.
Gross Disciplinary Offense
In the event of a gross violation of the Charter or receipt of information on its commission, the immediate officer of the employee should report this fact to the head of the military unit. He, in turn, makes a decision on the appointment of the proceedings and establishes the responsible persons for its conduct.
An internal investigation into a gross violation of the Charter ends with a protocol. If several military personnel were involved in such an offense, protocols shall be drawn up in respect of each of them.
Procedural Issues
The case materials, together with the protocol attached to it, are provided to the soldier who has committed a gross violation of the Charter, for review. After that, they are transferred to the leadership of the military unit for consideration.
The chief or other person conducting the internal investigation shall send the commander of the military unit a proposal to apply disciplinary arrest to the guilty serviceman (the proposal should contain an indication of the length of his term). The disciplinary sanction of a soldier who has committed a gross misconduct may be different. It depends on the circumstances of the particular case.
The commander of the military unit must consider the materials and protocol within 2 days from the date of their receipt. At the end of the specified period, he is obliged to make a decision either on the transfer of the case to the garrison court, or on the disciplinary sanction established by the Charter for the guilty soldier.
Nuances
If circumstances related to the commission of a gross violation were revealed during a previous audit, administrative investigation, or other verification, the trial by the military commander may not be initiated. In this case, the chief of the unit must appoint an officer responsible for drawing up the protocol, sets the deadline for its preparation (no more than 3 days).
If any signs of a crime in the actions of the guilty soldier are revealed during the trial, the commander of the military unit must institute criminal proceedings in the manner prescribed by law and notify the head of the military investigative unit of the RF IC and the military prosecutor.
Features of imposing sanctions
Disciplinary measures applied to military personnel must be consistent with the nature of the misconduct. When imposing sanctions, the guilty form, circumstances of the commission, consequences that the violation entailed, mitigating and aggravating factors, as well as information about the identity of the perpetrator are taken into account.
The severity of the disciplinary punishment of a serviceman increases if the misconduct is committed while intoxicated, during combat duty or in the performance of other official (special) duties. The punishment is toughened even if the consequence of unlawful actions is a significant violation of the order established in the military unit.
The timing
Sanctions to a military man whose guilt is established shall be imputed until the expiration of 10 days from the moment when the commander (commander) received information about the misconduct. At the same time, the time allotted for the trial, administrative or criminal proceedings, the period of a person’s business trip, on sick leave, on vacation or on a combat mission is not included in the indicated period. The sanction should be applied to the guilty party before the expiration of the statute of limitations stipulated by Russian law for disciplining military personnel.
A person who considers himself innocent of misconduct is entitled to file a complaint within 10 days from the date of imputation of punishment.
Special rules
Penalties for an employee who is part of a daily outfit (on combat duty) for an misconduct that occurred during the performance of official duties are imposed after changing or replacing him with another soldier.
The imposition of sanctions on a person who is intoxicated, or taking from him an explanation is made after his sobering up. In such situations, a soldier may be detained, after which a decision is made on the application of penalties to him in accordance with the established procedure.
Only one sanction can be charged for one misconduct. The combination of several penalties or the punishment of all personnel for the unlawful actions of individual perpetrators is not allowed.
Additionally
If the chief (commander), by virtue of the gravity of the misconduct, believes that his authority is not enough to impose a corresponding penalty on the guilty, he can petition for the punishment of a soldier by the authority of the higher leadership. The corresponding proposal is drawn up in the form of a report. The document must be transferred to the higher management within 10 days from the date of receipt of information on the commission of the misconduct.
The commander who has exceeded the authority granted to him is responsible for this in accordance with applicable law and the Charter.
Senior Management Rights
A superior commander cannot cancel or reduce the penalty imputed to a lower superior because of his severity, unless the latter has exceeded the powers granted to him. The lifting of the sanction is allowed if it is established that it does not correspond to the gravity of the misconduct. Moreover, the higher management has the right to apply a more severe punishment to the guilty.
An employee who has been charged with disciplinary action is not exempted from material and criminal liability.
Rules for the Execution of Sentences
As a rule, disciplinary sanctions imposed on members of the armed forces are enforced immediately, and in exceptional situations, until the statute of limitations has expired. It should be noted one nuance that is essential for the reputation of employees. After the expiration of the statute of limitations, the collection is not executed, but the record in the card about it is saved. If, nevertheless, the punishment has been executed, then the official guilty of this will be brought to disciplinary action.
The decision of the judge of the garrison court on the imposition of sanctions is implemented immediately after being imposed.
In the case of filing a complaint by the military, the execution of punishment is not suspended. An exception is the case when an order from a higher management receives a cancellation of a sanction, and when an arrest is made, a decision from a higher court.
Early removal of disciplinary sanctions from military personnel is carried out in the manner prescribed by law.
Implementation of the educational function of sanctions
As mentioned above, disciplinary measures are aimed at preventing the commission of new misconduct by both the punished person and his colleagues. In this regard, the applied sanctions are announced to all personnel before the formation, at a meeting or in person. In addition, the commander of the military unit has the right to issue an order that will contain information on the imposed punishments.
The announcement of a disciplinary sanction to the commander in the presence of subordinates is not allowed.
When reporting information on imputed sanction, the essence of the misconduct and the reason for bringing to justice shall be indicated.
Disciplinary arrest
It is considered an extreme measure of responsibility. An arrest is a serviceman’s premises in isolation at a military, garrison or ship guardhouse.
This measure is allowed to apply in exceptional cases and only for gross misconduct. If an unlawful act / omission of a soldier reveals signs of an administrative violation, a disciplinary arrest may be applied only when an administrative arrest is provided for in this Code of Administrative Offenses.
This measure is charged for up to 30 days. for one or more gross misconduct. If in the act of a person there are signs of an administrative violation, the duration of the arrest is established in accordance with the period provided for him in the Administrative Code.
During the execution of this punishment, an employee is not expelled from military personnel due to dismissal from service (deductions from fees or their completion). An exception is provided for cases when the military medical commission found him unfit for being in the ranks of the RF Armed Forces.