Art. 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (current version) establishes jurisdiction in criminal matters. Normally fixed compositions that relate to the conduct of certain authorities. The issue of assigning criminal materials to the competence of a particular judicial body is essential in the practice of considering crimes. These specifics must be taken into account when conducting pre-trial proceedings. We consider in more detail Art. 31 Code of Criminal Procedure, which means jurisdiction.
Part one and two
In h. 1 Article. 31 Code of Criminal Procedure establishes compositions, the consideration of which is carried out by the justice of the peace. In particular, these criminal cases include crimes for which maximum sanctions are not more than 3 years in prison. Moreover, the first part of Art. 31 of the CPC establishes exceptions. These include the norms:
- 171.1 (parts 1, 3 and 5).
- 177, 185, 195, 198, 253, 255, 257, 259, 262, 270, 271, 288, 289, 292, 297, 298.1, 207, 239, 243.1, 249, 328, 316, 108.
- 191.1, 250, 251, 252, 254, 291, 294, 296, 303, 306, 309, 109, 175 and 174.1 (parts 1.2).
- 212, 256 (part 3).
- 134-136, 107, 215, 215.1, 220, 216, 217.2, 217, 219, 220, 225, 228, 234.1, 235-238, 243, 243.2, 243.3, 247, 248, 301, 302, 307, 311, 322, 323, 327, 170, 170.2, 146-147, 193, 194, 199, 199.1, 200, 201.1, 202, 193.1, 178, 183, 263, 264, 266, 269, 272-274, 282.3, 285.1, 285.2, 286.1, 287, 290 and 171 (in the first parts).
- 228.2, 327.1, 228.3, 204 and 234 (in parts 1 and 3).
- 244 (part 2)
- 293 (parts 1 and 1.1)
The composition of these provisions of the Criminal Code falls within the competence of other authorized authorities. Part 2, Art. 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation establishes that a district court considers criminal materials in all convictions, except as indicated in the previous and third parts.
Supreme authorities
Courts of republics, regions and districts (including autonomous ones), territories, cities of the federal government. meanings, district (naval) military authorized bodies consider cases under the following articles:
- 105 (part 2).
- 228.1, 131 and 132 (in the fifth parts).
- 134 (part 6).
- 210, 229.1 (parts four).
- 281 (part 3).
- 277, 317, 357.
Exceptions to this part of Art. 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation are the compositions for which the maximum punishment in the form of life imprisonment (death penalty) cannot be imposed, as well as those provided for in the norms:
- 126 (in part three).
- 211 (parts 1-3).
- 212 (in the first part).
- 209, 227, 275, 276.353-356, 278, 358, 279, 360.
- 281, 359 (in the first and second parts).
Additionally
Part 3. Art. 31 Code of Criminal Procedure refers to the jurisdiction of these instances also criminal cases:
- In relation to members of the Federation Council, State Duma deputies, judges of the Constitutional Federal (general jurisdiction and arbitration), charter (regional) courts at their request. It must be declared before the start of the proceedings.
- The materials which contain information related to state secrets.
Military courts
Garrison instances of art. 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation consider cases of all crimes committed by military personnel, as well as by citizens undergoing training. An exception is made up of structures under jurisdiction of higher bodies. The district (naval) court examines the cases referred to in the third part of Art. 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, if the subjects of the crime were military personnel and citizens who were at the training camp, as well as materials that were transferred to the court in accordance with parts 4-7 of rule 35 of the Code.
Moscow and North Caucasus District Courts
Article 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure refers to their conduct of business:
- Indicated by parts three and six.
- Stipulated in Art. 205, 205.1-205.5, 206 and part 4 of Art. 211.
- The punishment for which is established taking into account the aggravating circumstance recorded in clause "p", part one of the norm 63 established in the Criminal Code.
- Subject to Articles 277-279 and 360.
Special information
If materials on crimes committed by a group (organized and conspiracy including), the community, are administered by a military court in respect of at least one accomplice, and the separation of the case in other subjects of the act is impossible, the examination shall be carried out by the appropriate military authority. The direction of a civil claim proceeding from a criminal one is determined by the jurisdiction of the latter. Authorized to hear instances located outside of Russia (deployed outside its territory), when considering materials in cases established by constitutional law, follow the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The military, district court of the appropriate level during the preliminary proceedings make decisions provided for in parts two and three of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Art. 31 Code of Criminal Procedure (with comments)
The jurisdiction of a criminal case is a set of features, according to which the consideration of materials falls within the competence of one or another body of first instance. Article 31 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is composed in such a way that it provides an accurate and exhaustive list of cases that are administered by:
- Justice of the peace.
- Federal District Authority.
- Ships of the subject of the Russian Federation.
- Armed Forces of Russia.
The distribution of cases by jurisdiction is carried out "from bottom to top" by the level of courts of general jurisdiction. Moreover, the norm refers to specific articles of the Criminal Code and their parts, which formulate the elements of crimes. In addition, another special criterion is added to the indicated feature. It consists in the presence in the materials of information falling under the category of state secret. Such cases are subject to jurisdiction of instances of subjects, regardless of the subject matter.
Sixth part
In December 2009, part 6 of Art. 31 CPC has been substantially updated. It currently defines the conduct of mid-level military courts. The provisions of part six can be summarized as follows:
The district (naval) authorized body shall consider cases that are subject to jurisdiction of the regional, regional and equivalent civil authorities of general jurisdiction if the defendants are persons who at the time of the act were military personnel or undergo training (military).
Additionally, the law includes in the conduct of these courts cases relating to:
- Terrorist activities.
- Violations of public safety.
- Hostage taking.
- Public appeals or justification of terrorism.
- Organization of armed groups.
- Banditry.
- Theft of ships.
- Violations of the constitutional order.
- Attacks or threats of violence against public or government officials.
- Violations of internationally protected institutions, etc.
Features of jurisdiction
According to Art. 5 of the Federal Law introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (republics, districts and regions (including autonomous ones), territories) in which, at the time the Code entered into force, the positions of magistrates were not approved, cases relating to their jurisdiction are being considered authorized persons of regional authorities. Generally, proceedings are carried out solely in such cases. The military justice system does not provide for justices of the peace. Cases of military personnel, which by their subject matter belong to the competence of the latter, are considered in the garrison instances. This is established in Art. 6 of the aforementioned Federal Law on the enforcement of the Criminal Procedure Code. The jurisdiction of military courts, unlike civil ones, is built not only in accordance with the subject, but also with a personal attribute. In such cases, not only the qualification of criminal behavior itself, but also the specificity of the subject is of substantial legal importance. The subject attribute plays a decisive role in the process of delimiting jurisdiction between military garrison courts, which act as the lowest link in the system, and naval (district) authorities, which are at an average level throughout the structure. According to the specified criterion, the materials that are under the jurisdiction of the federal district authorities authorized for criminal proceedings will be the first to be judged.
Competence of military courts
The competence of these instances includes all crimes that are committed:
- Servicemen - persons who perform service under a contract or draft at the time of the act. This activity is considered a special type of state federal service, which is carried out by citizens in the Russian Armed Forces and other troops and bodies referred to in Art. 2 of the Federal Law governing military duty.
- Persons who are in the process of passing fees.
- Citizens discharged from service in the ranks of the troops and trained, if the acts were committed during these periods.
Normative fixing
In accordance with the Federal Law of December 29, 2010 (No. 433), part 7.1 of the article in question (supplemented directly by this Law) was to enter into force only on January 1, 2013. As lawyers noted at the time, there were no apparent reasons for such a long delay. Moreover, the norm is fixed as part 2.1 of Art. 7 Federal Law of June 23, 1999 as amended by the Federal Law No. 2, amending the Law on Military Courts in Russia. This act has already been deemed to have entered into force. This, in turn, means that at that time it had legal effect and was subject to undeniable application, and the provision is identical to part 7.1 of the considered 31st article of the CPC. This is due to the fact that constitutional laws have an unconditional priority over ordinary federal norms in all respects.
Institutions stationed outside the country
Their jurisdiction and features of the consideration of cases are established in part eight of the article in question. Military courts deployed outside the country analyze crimes committed by military personnel who are members of the Russian forces, their close relatives (family members). These authorities consider the composition of acts, the subjects of which are also other citizens. However, in this case, the crime must be committed in the territory under the criminal jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, or the guilty person was in the line of duty, or encroached on the interests of the state.