Article 36. Necessary defense
1. The necessary defense shall mean actions
taken to defend the legally protected rights
and interests of the defending person or another
person, and also public interests and interests
of the state, against a socially dangerous
trespass, by inflicting such harm upon the
trespasser as is necessary and sufficient
in a given situation to immediately avert
or stop the trespass, provided the limits
of the necessary defense are not exceeded.
2. Every person shall have the right to necessary
defense notwithstanding any possibility to
avoid a socially dangerous trespass or request
assistance of other persons or authorities.
3. The excess of necessary defense shall mean
an intended causing of a grievous harm to
the trespasser, which is not adequate to the
danger of the trespass or circumstances of
the defense. The excess of necessary defense
shall entail criminal liability only in cases
specifically prescribed in Articles 118 and
124 of this Code.
4. A person shall not be subject to criminal
liability where that person was not able,
due to high excitement, to evaluate if the
harm caused by that person was proportionate
to the danger of the trespass or circumstances
of defense.
5. The use of weapons or other means or things
for protection against an attack of an armed
person or an attack of a group of persons,
and also to avert an unlawful violent intrusion
upon a dwelling place or other premises, shall
not be treated as the excess of necessary
defense and shall not entail criminal liability
irrespective of the gravity of harm caused
to the trespasser.
Article 37. Misread Defense
1. The misread defense shall mean actions
resulting in a harm caused in the absence
of any real socially dangerous trespass where
the person, who misinterpreted actions of
the victim's, only mistakenly presumed the
reality of such trespass.
2. The misread defense shall exclude any criminal
liability for the harm caused only if the
circumstances involved furnished reasonable
grounds for the person to believe that there
was a real trespass and that person was not
and could not be aware that his/her presumption
was mistaken.
3. Where a person was not and could not be
aware that his/her presumption was mistaken,
but acted in excess of defense justifiable
under the circumstances of a real trespass,
that person shall be criminally liable for
the excess of necessary defense.
4. Where a person, under the circumstances,
was not aware of, but ought to realize the
absence of a real socially dangerous trespass,
that person shall be criminally liable for
the harm caused by recklessness.
Article 38. Apprehension of an offender
1. Any actions of the victim or other persons
immediately following a trespass and aimed
at the apprehending of the offender and bringing
him or her to appropriate public authorities
and were not in excess of what was necessary
for such apprehension, is not held to be criminal.
2. Any willful infliction, upon an offender,
of grievous harm clearly disproportionate
to the danger of the trespass or circumstances
involved in the apprehension of the offender,
is held to be in excess of measures necessary
for the apprehension. The excess of measures
necessary for the apprehension of an offender
shall entail criminal liability only in cases
specifically provided for in Articles 118
and 124 of this Code.
Article 39. Extreme necessity
1. Infliction of harm to legally protected
interests in circumstances of extreme necessity,
that is to prevent an imminent danger to a
person or legally protected rights of that
person or other persons, and also public interests
or interests of the state, shall not be a
criminal offense, where the danger could not
be prevented by other means and where the
limits of extreme necessity were not exceeded.
2. Any willful infliction of harm upon any
legally protected interests, where such harm
is larger than the harm thus prevented, is
held to be in excess of extreme necessity.
3. A person shall not be criminally liable
for exceeding the limits of extreme necessity
where that person could not, as a result of
high excitement raised by the danger, evaluate
if the harm caused was proportionate to such
danger.
Article 40. Physical or mental coercion
1. A person's action or omission that caused
harm to legally protected interests, is not
to be held a criminal offense, where that
person acted under direct physical coercion
which rendered him or her unable to be in
control of his/her actions.
2. The decision on a person's criminal liability
for causing harm to legally protected interests,
shall be made pursuant to provisions of Article
39 of this Code, where that person was subject
to physical coercion, under which he/she was
able to control his/her actions, and also
subject to mental coercion.
Article 41. Obeying an order or command
1. A person's action or omission that caused
harm to legally protected interests, shall
be lawful, where that person acted to obey
a legal order or instructions.
2. An order or command is held to be lawful
where it is duly issued by an appropriate
person acting within his/her commission and,
in its substance, is not contrary to applicable
laws and does not breach the constitutional
rights and freedoms of the human being and
citizen.
3. A person shall not be criminally liable
for disobeying a patently criminal order or
command.
4. A person, who obeyed a patently criminal
order or command, shall be criminally liable
on general grounds for the acts committed
in pursuance of such order or command.
5. Where a person was not and could not be
aware of the criminal nature of an order or
command, the criminal liability for the act
committed in pursuance of such order or command
shall arise only with respect to the person
who gave the criminal order or command.
Article 42. An act involving risk
1. No act (action or omission) in prejudice
of legally protected interests shall be held
to be a criminal offense where it was committed
in circumstances of justified risk to achieve
a significant purpose valuable to the community.
2. A risk shall be justified if the goal pursued
could not, under the circumstances, be achieved
otherwise than by an action (omission) involving
risk and the person that allowed the risk
reasonably believed that he/she exercised
enough caution to avert harm to the legally
protected interests.
3. A risk shall not be justified if it knowingly
endangered lives of other people, or created
a threat of environmental disaster or any
other emergency.
Article 43. Undertaking a special mission
to prevent or uncover criminal activities
of an organized group or criminal organization
1. A compelled causing of harm to legally
protected interests by a person shall not
be a criminal offense, where such person was
undertaking a special mission, pursuant to
law, by way of participation in an organized
group or criminal organization for the purpose
of preventing or uncovering its criminal activities.
2. Any such person as described in the first
paragraph of this article shall be criminally
liable only for committing, as part of an
organized group or criminal organization,
a special grave criminal offense which was
willful and involved violence with respect
to the victim, or a grievous crime, which
was willful and involved grievous bodily injury
to the victim or other serious or particularly
serious consequences.
3. A person who has committed such criminal
offense may not be sentenced to life and may
not be imprisoned for a longer term than half
of the maximum term of imprisonment prescribed
by the law in respect of this crime.
