Article 203 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Excess of authority by employees of private security or detective services." Comments
1. Exceeding by the head or employee of a private security or detective service of the powers granted to him in accordance with the license, contrary to the objectives of his activity, if this act was committed with the use of violence or with the threat of its use, shall be punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of up to three years, or by arrest for up to six months, or imprisonment for up to five years with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years or without it.
2. The same act, entailing grave consequences, shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of up to seven years with deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to three years.
Commentary on Article 203 of the Criminal Code:
1. Private detective and security activity is the provision of services to citizens and legal entities on a paid contractual basis by enterprises that have a special permit (license) in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of their customers (Article 1 of the Law on Private Detective and Security Activities in Russian Federation").
Licenses for this activity are issued by the internal affairs bodies after the citizen has submitted the relevant documents (Articles 6, 11, 12 of the Law “On Private Detective and Security Activities in the Russian Federation”).
2. The objective side of the act provided for in Article. 203 of the Criminal Code, consists of:
1) in excess by private detectives and security guards of the powers granted to them in accordance with the license. Examples of such excess are:
- concealment from law enforcement bodies of facts about impending or committed crimes;
- impersonating law enforcement officers;
- collection of information related to personal life, political and religious beliefs of individual citizens;
- video and audio recording, photo and film shooting in the premises without the consent of citizens and officials;
- the commission of actions that endanger the life, health, honor, dignity, property of citizens;
- falsification of materials and misrepresentation of the client;
- disclosure of the information collected, its use contrary to the interests of the client or in the interests of third parties;
- violation of confidentiality of correspondence, telephone conversations, etc. (Article 7 of the Law "On Private Detective and Security Activities in the Russian Federation");
2) in the implementation of private detective or security activities contrary to its tasks. The objectives of private detective or security activities are:
- collection of information on civil cases under contracts with customers - participants in the process;
- market research, collecting information for business negotiations, identifying insolvent or unreliable business partners;
- establishing the circumstances of the unlawful use of trademarks, service marks, company names, unfair competition, disclosure of information constituting a trade secret;
- Search for missing citizens, search for lost documents, property;
- collection of information on criminal cases in the prescribed manner;
- protection of life and property of citizens;
- customer property protection;
- design, installation and maintenance of security and fire alarms, etc. (Article 3 of the Law "On Private Detective and Security Activities in the Russian Federation");
3) in that the said act is committed with the use of:
- violence (i.e., beating the victim, torturing him, causing him pain, destruction of his property, etc.);
- threats of violence (i.e. promises to kill the victim or his loved ones, harm their health, destroy property, etc.).
3. The subjective side of the analyzed act is characterized by direct intent, ie the guilty person realizes that he is committing socially dangerous acts, exceeding his authority, anticipates the possibility or inevitability of an offensive for victims of socially dangerous consequences, and wishes them to happen (part 2 of article 25 of the Criminal Code).
The subjects of this crime are sane individuals who have reached 18 years of age (and in the course of detective work - 21 years), performing the functions of private detectives or employees of security organizations.
4. In h. 2 Article 203 of the Criminal Code indicates the qualifying circumstance of this act: the onset of grave consequences. They, in particular, can be the death of a citizen, causing him bodily harm, the destruction of his property. In all these cases, the perpetrator must be held accountable under Art. 203 of the Criminal Code and in the aggregate - according to that article of the Criminal Code, which provides for a particular act (for example, for murder (Articles 105-109 of the Criminal Code), for causing grievous bodily harm (Article 111 of the Criminal Code).
It must be borne in mind that if the act provided for in Art. 203 of the Criminal Code, caused harm exclusively to the interests of commercial organizations, the criminal prosecution is carried out at the request of such organizations or with their consent (note 2 of article 201 of the Criminal Code).
5. The act provided for in Article 203 of the Criminal Code, refers to moderate crimes (part 3 of article 15 of the Criminal Code).