Complete and Voluntary Abandonment of the Criminal Purpose in the Notes to the Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on Terrorist Crimes: Grounds for Application

The norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on exemption from criminal liability or noninvolvement therein are an important tool for countering crimes in general. The relevant norms contained in the notes to the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation providing for liability for terrorist crimes are no exception. Of the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation providing for liability for terrorist crimes, the relevant notes are given to Articles 205–206 and 208. However, the effective use of the possibilities contained in the listed articles may be hindered by the confusion of grounds for exemption from criminal liability and grounds excluding criminal liability inherent in them. The author make a conclusion on the need to coordinate the notes to Articles 205–206, 208 of the Criminal Code with the provisions on voluntary abandonment of a crime (Article 31 of the Criminal Code) and complete abandonment of the criminal purpose (part 2 of Article 75 of the Criminal Code). Such coordination is a necessary condition for a clear definition of the legal nature of the circumstances set out in the notes to the above articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Currently, unambiguous grounds for differentiating these circumstances into exempting from criminal liability and excluding criminal liability are absent, which leads to contradictory and controversial conclusions when judicial authorities make decisions on cases of terrorist crimes provided for in Articles 205–206, 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.