Knowingly false denunciation is one of the crimes against justice. It harms the activities of one or all law enforcement agencies at the same time , namely the court, criminal prosecution bodies or other structures. What is the composition of this crime and what punishment awaits the person who committed it? This will tell our article.
Object of crime
This mandatory feature of the composition contains a description of what the harm is caused by a committed unlawful act. As mentioned above, knowingly false denunciation causes serious damage to the normal, lawful activities of law enforcement agencies. In addition, at the same time harm is inflicted on the rights and interests of citizens who are involved in the criminal case process. So, for example, article 306 “Knowingly false denunciation” in part 2 establishes a special, increased responsibility for such an act, if it was directly connected with the accusation of a person that he committed a grave or especially grave illegal act. Undoubtedly, in this case there is a serious violation of the rights of the defamed person.
Objective side
As a rule, a description of this feature contains a separate article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Knowingly false denunciation is always committed by action. It is a deliberate communication of incorrect, invalid information about a committed, preparing or fictitious crime, as well as about persons who took part in it or in reality have nothing to do with it. Such information should be communicated to the court, authority or criminal prosecution.
Subjective side
Knowingly false denunciation is always committed intentionally and with a specific purpose. The person committing such a crime always realizes what he is doing and wants to break the law in this way. The goal in this case is an alternative. There are 2 options. Either the perpetrator wants the initiation of a case of a crime without necessary and sufficient grounds for this, or wants to discredit the innocent and contribute to being mistakenly prosecuted.
Subject of crime
A person may be punished for knowingly false denunciation only if, at the time of the commission of this crime, he reached the age of sixteen years and was sane. That is, the offender must be fully aware of the importance of his behavior and direct actions.
Qualifying signs
An article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation containing the composition of this crime includes three parts. The first of them describes the general signs of an act. The remaining parts contain qualifying features. Responsibility in these standards is established more stringent than in the general case. Among the qualifying signs of knowingly false denunciation, the legislator considers the accusation of a person to commit serious crimes, as well as the artificial creation of evidence by the criminal.
Punishment
Responsibility for such a crime is established as alternative. This means that the court, when passing a sentence, has the right to choose from several options the punishment that is most suitable in each particular case. So, for a deliberately false denunciation, a person can be fined, or sent to compulsory or forced labor, or even imprisoned or arrested. The measure of punishment depends on the degree of guilt and other facts relevant to the case.