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- The wing was not out: in Russia they want to introduce criminal punishment for hit-and-runs
The wing was not out: in Russia they want to introduce criminal punishment for hit-and-runs
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation wants to introduce a separate punishment for auto framing. It is proposed to imprison a person for up to four years for a traffic accident with the purpose of extortion, and up to seven years if committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or with the infliction of grave harm to health. Such a bill will be submitted to the State Duma this week. The reason for the initiative is the increasing number of cases of auto-fraud on the roads and the ineffectiveness of punishment under the current norms. Experts believe that in the regulatory framework will be difficult to clearly specify who the framers are and the specific criteria for these offenses.
How they want to penalize for auto framing
The Criminal Code may introduce a separate punishment for a deliberate road accident committed for the purpose of extorting funds. As "Izvestia" found out, such a bill was prepared for submission to the State Duma by the head of the Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans' Affairs from the LDPR faction Yaroslav Nilov.
In the explanatory note, which is available at"Izvestia", it is reported that in Russia has again received a round of development of crime on the roads, which is expressed in the increased incidence of cases of auto framing. Such an accident is a real imitation of a traffic accident through the use of special techniques and situations that force the driver to pay "compensation" for the damage caused or violated norms of the law, the document says.
"The current norms of legislation do not have legal specificity in terms of exactly this type of fraud as a legal phenomenon, and therefore cannot fully provide legal protection to the victims. Currently, persons who committed this crime are usually tried under Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Fraud"). However, this type of crime goes far beyond simple fraud, as it involves extortion of money, threats, as well as violation of traffic safety rules and damage to the vehicle of the victims", - is emphasized in the document.
In this regard, the bill proposes to allocate the deliberate creation of traffic accidents for the purpose of extortion in an independent type of crime and establish a penalty of imprisonment for up to four years, and in cases of committing it by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or with causing serious harm to the health of the victim - up to seven years.
- Today, an increase in such violations is being recorded across the country. Although, of course, the situation is not as critical as, for example, 10 years ago. Now there are a lot of video cameras on the streets, which partly stop fraudsters. Therefore, they invent new methods of deception, for example, with the participation of pedestrians or when parking a car, when the driver allegedly touches the car and then leaves, - explained "Izvestia" Yaroslav Nilov.
Valery Gartung, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Protection of Competition from "Just Russia - For Truth", said that the bill deserves support. He believes that the Criminal Code should penalize such framers, who now often escape responsibility.
According to Nikolai Arefyev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy from the CPRF, fraudsters who deliberately damage other people's property and earn money from it should be punished as severely as possible. For such crimes should be given at once eight or even 10 years, so that no one had to do it, explained "Izvestia" deputy.
According to him, auto framing in Russia began in the 1990s, but no one has paid attention to this problem so far, and as a result, innocent people lose a lot of money.
"Izvestia" sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assess the prospects of supporting the bill.
Is there any punishment for auto framing now?
According to Anton Shaparin, vice-president of the National Automobile Union (NAU), auto frame-ups exist today, but often police officers have no opportunity to prove the fact of fraud. At the same time, it is obvious that these accidents are committed on purpose. Therefore, it is necessary to do something about it.
- However, if such a penalty is established, it will be double-edged for the ordinary driver, who in case of an accident will have to prove that it is not a setup," the expert explained.
According to him, the regulatory framework will be difficult to clearly specify who the framers are and what should be the sequence of their actions, so amendments should be made not only in the Criminal Code, but also in the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The head of the ONF working group "Protection of motorists' rights" and coordinator of the movement "Blue Buckets" Petr Shkumatov, in turn, noted that, before introducing punishment, the legislation should have a legal definition of a frame-up and its clear criteria.
- As a rule, the criteria in such an accident are very blurred, so it will be necessary to prove the intent of the driver who committed this offense. The difficulty is to distinguish careless driving from intentional actions in this story," the expert explained.
According to him, the problem of auto bribery exists, but it is not as urgent as, for example, 10 years ago.
- Now the auto forgers have transformed into insurance fraudsters. That is, they demand money not from the injured party, but from the insurance company. Therefore, if we introduce punishment for fictitious road accidents, it should be extended to insurance fraud. That is, if the accident is committed in order to make money either from a citizen or from the company, it should be one composition, - believes Peter Shkumatov.
There are enough articles in the Criminal Code to qualify crimes related to auto framing, explained in the press service of the All-Russian Union of Insurers. They noted that if vehicles are not insured, a fake accident is committed with the purpose of extorting money from the guilty party, then in this situation the actions of auto-fixers can be qualified under Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Extortion").
Today, the Criminal Code only penalizes fraud, explained lawyer Ivan Sidorov. We are talking about Art. 159, according to which it means theft of another's property or acquisition of the right to another's property by deceit or breach of trust, he added. The punishment in this case is provided up to imprisonment for up to two years.
It makes sense to introduce a separate punishment for auto framing - today such situations are qualified as fraud, but it is very difficult to prove it. If there is a more detailed regulation of this offense, it will help in the investigation of such cases, the expert summarized.
