Art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Official forgery": comments and features

By forgery traditionally understood the process of fitting, creating or imitating objects, documents or statistics, the main purpose of which is to mislead people. In domestic criminal legislation, responsibility for such activities is regulated by art. 292 of the Criminal Code.

Historical reference

Any crime and a norm that presupposes responsibility for it, there is a history of becoming. The fight against such an act as forgery began long before the time of the emergence of many modern states.

In Roman law, this concept was interpreted very broadly. For forgery, in particular, they included forgery of wills, measures, coins, weights, seals, bribery of judges, perjury. It was a collective concept and, from a legal point of view, worthless, covering all possible cases concerning the concealment of truth.

English criminal law defined in the Act of 1981 forgery as "the creation of a false means to encourage someone to take it for the original and thereby harm themselves or a third party.

In the domestic law the concept appeared even at the time of the creation of the "Russian Truth" and various metamorphoses passed. The content of the currently criminal legal norm on forgery (Article 292 of the Criminal Code) is closest to the wording of Soviet times. Then this act was defined as forging genuine documents or making false ones. At the same time forgery was divided into official and simple, that is, committed by a private person.

Art. 292 of the Criminal Code: a simple composition

Modern Russian legislation defines forgery as the introduction by a state or municipal employee, as well as an official, of deliberately false information in official documents, as well as corrections in them that distort content. Criminal liability is provided in the event that these acts were committed in personal interests or for mercenary purposes.

A simple composition presupposes one of the alternative punishments to the guilty person in the form of:

• A fine in the amount of 80 thousand rubles. Or any other income of the guilty (including salaries) for a period of up to six months;
• Mandatory work up to 480 hours;
• Corrective or forced labor for up to 2 years;
• Arrest for a period of up to six months;
• Deprivation of liberty for up to 2 years.

Qualified staff

A qualifying sign under art. 292 of the Criminal Code is the commission of a forgery that caused a substantial violation of the legitimate interests of organizations, citizens, as well as their rights or interests of the state or society as a whole, protected by law.

In this case, the following types of sanctions are applied (in an alternative order):

• A fine in the amount of 100-500 thousand rubles. Or any other income of the guilty (including salary) for a period of 1 to 3 years;
• Forced labor for up to 4 years with an additional ban on engaging in certain activities or limiting the right to hold specific positions for a period of up to 3 years (or without it);
• Deprivation of liberty for up to 4 years with an additional ban on engaging in certain activities or limiting the right to hold specific positions for a period of up to 3 years (or without it).

Object and subject of crime

The object of criminal assault, according to the analyzed art. 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is the normal activity of state bodies, which is connected with the issuance of official documents and their circulation.

On the basis of the foregoing, it is not difficult to guess which thing in the material world is being effected during the commission of a crime. In other words, what is its subject. These are the documents, but not all, but meeting certain requirements: they come from a certain legal entity, and not necessarily from the state body, contain all the official signs, that is, they are recognized by law. A detailed explanation is given in the comments to art. 292 of the Criminal Code.

An official document must have all the signs of publicity. They are expressed in the generally accepted form, its addressing to an undefined circle of persons (subjects of legal relations), fixation on a material carrier (electronic, paper, magnetic, etc.). Acquisition of an official document of force occurs after it is signed by an official authorized to sign.

The objective side

The official forgery (Article 292 of the Criminal Code) on the objective side is characterized by a formal composition. The crime is considered completed at the moment of entering false, unreliable information in the official document. The act itself is expressed in falsification or counterfeiting, committed in various ways (erasure, correction, addition, etc.). This includes the addition of knowingly false information. But the use of such a document, as well as the consequences resulting from this, are beyond the scope of the crime (according to Article 292 of the Criminal Code). In the subject of evidence, these actions are not included. All further criminal acts that are in any way connected with the use of a fraudulent document and the resulting consequences resulting from it are qualified under another criminal law norm.

Subject and subjective side

The subject of service fraud is defined as special. They are a person who is in the civil service, or an official, or an employee of local government.

The subjective side of forgery is described by the law as guilt in the form of direct intent. The offender is aware of the unlawful nature of his actions and wishes them to be committed. It is important to remember that the psychic attitude of the guilty to forgery should always be associated with self-interest and other personal interest.

Comments on art. 292 CC

As already mentioned above, the subject of forgery are official documents. Comments on this matter include the following information.

An official document is a written act performed on an electronic or paper medium and originating from one or another link of the state apparatus. It must certify specific events and facts that entail certain legal consequences for the persons using it. The official document must contain the requisite details: stamp, stamp, date, number, signature of the official. To such you can, for example, include: registration books of the registry office, work record book, identity card, etc.

Speaking about the self-serving intent of the criminal, the legislator means the aspiration of the person to gain for himself any benefit (illegal). It can be both material, expressed in the acquisition of the right to property, and intangible - the acquisition of the right to dispose of any objects of intellectual property.

The wording of the legislator "other personal interest" is treated quite broadly: exorbitant vanity, protectionism, careerism, concealment of negative results of their labor activity, etc.

Forgery and falsification: the difference

A crime qualified under art. 292 of the Criminal Code, has a composition similar to some other criminally punishable acts. First of all, service forgery should be separated from falsification of evidence. In both cases, at first glance, changes are made to the documents. However, in the case of falsification, it is precisely the distortion that is carried out, obviously, and not falsification. In other words, the content of the document changes in the manner in which the faker needs it. In addition, in the future the item must be used as evidence (Article 303 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).