The Ministry of Justice reported that amendments to Article 116.1 of the Criminal Code “Beating by a person subject to administrative punishment” will be submitted to the State Duma within the next 6 months. The Constitutional Court ordered the government to develop new norms. This happened after he considered the complaint of a resident of the Orenburg region on April 8, 2021. The woman suffered systematically from the beatings that her brother, who lived with her, inflicted on her. However, under the current legislation, he actually remained unpunished.
The case, which ended in a loud verdict, was considered at the suit of Lyudmila Sakova. The story of this woman from the Orenburg region is sad, but not unique. She was systematically beaten by her brother Gennady Sakov, who lives in the same house. In the spring of 2018, he was fined 5 thousand rubles in an administrative manner. And in the spring of 2019, he was sentenced to 300 hours of compulsory work under the same 116.1 of the Criminal Code – he dismissed his hands again, although a year has not yet passed since the administrative court.
The verdict had no effect. Being convicted and not having served his sentence, Sakov continued to beat his sister. In February 2020, the magistrate again punished him for the beatings that took place in the fall of 2019 – but only on an administrative basis, sentencing him to 100 hours of compulsory labor. A year from the previous administrative punishment has already expired, and in article 116.1 such situations are not stipulated in any way. The Raisud agreed with the magistrate. Article 116.1 of the Criminal Code contradicts the Constitution, because it does not allow punishing a person who has an unexpunged and outstanding conviction for beatings: in this case, his malicious acts are, as it were, nullified, says Sakova’s lawsuit.
According to Izvestia, the article provides for a fine of 40 thousand rubles, or in the amount of the convict’s salary or income for three months, or compulsory work up to 240 hours. Also, the perpetrator of domestic violence can face up to three months of arrest. At the same time, the Constitutional Court recognized Art. 116.1 of the Criminal Code inconsistent with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
“It does not provide proportionate criminal legal protection of the right to personal integrity and the right to protect the dignity of an individual from violence in the event that beatings are inflicted or other violent actions that have caused physical pain are committed by a person with a criminal record,” the resolution says.