Exemption From Criminal Liability in Connection With Military Service

The article reflects the result of a scientific study of the provisions of legislation and doctrine that determine the content of the conditions under which criminal law measures are not applied to persons called up for military service during the period of mobilization or in wartime, as well as those imprisoned during the period of mobilization, wartime and (or) a martial law contract for military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, subject to their award or dismissal, on grounds specified by law. The relevance of such a study is predetermined primarily by the fact that the criminal law provisions in question were introduced into the Criminal Law quite recently. Provisions of Art. 78.1, 80.2 and part 3.1 of Art. 86 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are of a blanket nature, the conditions and procedure for exemption from criminal liability and the punishments provided for in them differ in many respects from the conditions that are typical for other circumstances of exemption from liability. The authors note that the decision of the federal executive authorities on the non-application of criminal liability measures in connection with military service to persons who have committed a crime, does not depend on what category, in accordance with Art. 15 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, this crime should be included. Exemption from criminal liability in connection with military service does not occur simultaneously, but involves at least two stages. The first is expressed in the suspension of the application of criminal legal measures to a person while he is serving, subject to control over him by the commander of a military unit or institution. The second is the final refusal to bring the person to criminal responsibility. The basis for the termination for a person of all criminal legal consequences of committing a crime in this case is one of the alternatives specified in the law. This is either the awarding of a state award to a serviceman or dismissal from military service due to reaching a certain age, or recognition of a person by a military medical commission as unfit for military service due to health reasons or due to the end of the mobilization period, the abolition (termination) of martial law and (or) the expiration of martial law time.