Alas, in a modern world full of stress and negative moods, it is almost impossible to hide from rudeness. Often, insulting words thrown by a casual passer-by, a gloomy neighbor or even closer acquaintances, injure the soul and make you sad. But do not forget: there are such words and deeds that can be forgiven to other people, but there are those that cannot be forgiven. Not without reason, once in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation an insult was introduced as a criminal offense - a crime. With the adoption of the Federal Law of December 7, 2011 No. 420-, the considered article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Insult” has lost force. Nevertheless, the analysis of insult as a crime is important for a deep understanding of the essence and principles of the criminal law, which protects public and personal interests. Detailed analysis of Art. 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation until its loss of power will also be useful to all those who study the history of domestic criminal law and are interested in the prospects for improving the current law.
Objective side
In order to study the theory, let us imagine that the aforementioned article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is still valid, and we will examine in more detail the objective side of the crime called “Insult”. These are actions consisting in a negative assessment of the personality of the victim, and this assessment degrades the honor and dignity of the person. An insult can take place both with outsiders and in private with the victim. Moreover, it can be carried out in absentia, for example, through a written message.
In order to recognize any statement as an insult, it is necessary that the form of recalling the identity of the victim is indecent. What does it mean? An indecent assessment inevitably contradicts the rules of interpersonal communication, violates generally accepted norms of morality and ethics. Due to indecent treatment of the victim, there is an illegal humiliation of honor and dignity. It is not necessary, however, to express an insult in the face of the victim: it can be expressed to third parties subject to the transfer of what was said to the victim.
One should distinguish insult from slander. Defamation does not correspond to reality, while insult (in essence, a negative assessment expressed aloud, expressed by an act or recorded on paper) can fully correspond to reality. To qualify a crime, this aspect is not particularly important; the indecent form of recall is important, which harms the honor and dignity of the offended person.
Forms of insult
Let us clarify all forms that an insult can take (130, Criminal Code of the Russian Federation):
- verbal;
- writing form;
- physical activities.
Physical actions are equivalent to spitting, slapping and other solitary punches, indecent gestures and other offensive gestures. It is noteworthy that in domestic criminal law (Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) physical actions were never directly equated to insulting, but they should not be written off: in their sense, spitting in the face and indecent gestures constitute a negative assessment of the personality of the victim.
Qualification
The decisive factor in the issue of qualifying a criminal offense as an insult, according to the repealed art. 130 of the Criminal Code, the orientation of the intent of the offender is recognized. His actions should have one goal - the deliberate humiliation of the honor and dignity of the victim.
Illegal actions can be targeted both at one specific person and at a group of people. Personal addressing is an important component of insult. If a negative personal assessment is expressed to an unknown addressee and the victim as such is absent, the incident can be qualified as another crime, for example hooliganism.
Corpus delicti
The composition of the insult is considered formal. The punishable act is completed at the moment when unlawful acts directed at a specific addressee are committed. If the victim is absent during the commission of the indicated actions, the crime is recognized by the authorized bodies to be completed from the moment the third parties inform him of the expressed (or otherwise committed) insults.
Subjective side
In the sense of the repealed article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (insult), the subjective side of the analyzed crime is always characterized by exclusively direct intent. When sentencing, a judge may also take into account the motives of the insult.
The subject can be any person, subject to sanity and attainment at the time of the commission of criminally punishable acts of sixteen years of age.
conclusions
Is an insult a crime (Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)? The answer is clear: no longer. Has the public benefited from the abolition of articles of the Criminal Code such as “Slander” and “Insult”? Not yet known. Articles of the same name migrated to the Code of Administrative Offenses, and “Slander” disappeared altogether after the adoption of Federal Law No. 141-FZ of July 28, 2012. Insult is now punished with a simple administrative fine and does not entail a criminal record.
The future will show how these changes contribute to the rule of law.