Issues of Discharging from Criminal Liability for Fictitious Registration

Abstract

The article analyses the practice of discharging persons from criminal liability for fictitious registrationof Russian citizens at the place of stay or place of residence in residential premise in Russia orfictitious registration of foreign citizen or the person without citizenship at the place of residence inresidential premise in Russia, nor for fictitious registration of foreign citizens or persons without citizenshipby place of residence in residential premise in Russia. The main goal of the article lies in reasonedanswer to the question: what actions should a person commit to be recognized as a contribution tosolving crimes, as stipulated in Article 322.2 or Article 322.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation?To achieve this goal, the article examines the current law enforcement practices and opinionsof scientists, compares all the commentaries to the articles of the Special Part of the RF Criminal Code,which referred to the contribution to solving a crime. Key findings of the paper are the following: 1) fordischarging from criminal liability of persons on the basis of notes to Articles 322.2 and 322.3 of theCriminal Code it is necessary to consider only their actions taken prior to the initiation of the criminalcase; 2) Communication of reliable information when giving explanations to the law enforcement authoritiesand giving consent to the inspection of the dwelling during the inspection under Article 144of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation are sufficient grounds for the mandatorydischarge of persons from criminal liability under Article 322.2 and Article 322.3 of the Criminal Code;3) reference to part 2 of Article 28 of the Code when discharging a person from criminal responsibilityunder the notes to Article 322.2 or Article 322.3 of the Criminal Code is forced and wrong (part 2of Article 28 of the Code of Criminal Procedure applies only to grave crimes, especially grave ones),but the law does not provide for any more or less suitable norms; 4) for the solution of the proceduralproblems, the Criminal Procedure Code must include other grounds for the termination of criminalproceedings — commentaries to the articles of the Special part of the Criminal Code.