Article 65. General principles of imposition
of punishment
1. A court shall impose a punishment:
(1) within the limits prescribed by a sanction
of that article of the Special Part of this
Code, which creates liability for the committed
criminal offense;
(2) pursuant to provisions of the General
Part of this Code;
(3) having regard to the degree of gravity
of the committed offense, character of the
guilty person, method and motives of the committed
offense, nature and extend of damages, and
circumstances mitigating or aggravating the
punishment.
2. The punishment imposed on an offender should
be adequate and sufficient to reform the offender
and prevent new offenses.
3. The grounds for imposing a punishment milder
than the one prescribed for a committed offense
in a relevant article of the Special Part
of this Code, are specified in Article 69
of this Code.
4. A punishment heavier than one prescribed
for a committed offense in a relevant article
of the Special Part of this Code may be imposed
pursuant to Articles 70 and 71 of this Code
in case of cumulative offenses and cumulative
sentencing.
Article 66. Circumstances mitigating punishment
1. For the purposes of imposing a punishment,
the following circumstances shall be deemed
to be mitigating:
(1) surrender, sincere repentance or actively
assistance in detecting the offense;
(2) voluntary compensation of losses or repairing
of damages;
(3) the commission of an offense by a minor;
(4) the commission of an offense by a pregnant
woman;
(5) the commission of an offense in consequence
of a train of adverse personal, family or
other circumstances;
(6) the commission of an offense under influence
of threats, coercion or financial, official
or other dependence;
(7) the commission of an offense under influence
of strong excitement raised by improper or
immoral actions of the victim;
(8) the commission of an offense in excess
of necessary defense;
(9) undertaking a special mission to prevent
or uncover criminal activities of an organized
group or criminal organization, where this
has involved committing an offense in any
such case as provided for by this Code;
2. When imposing a punishment, a court may
find circumstances, other than those specified
in paragraph 1 of this Article, to be mitigating.
3. If any of the mitigating circumstances
is specified in an article of the Special
Part of this Code as an element of an offense,
that affects its treatment, a court shall
not take it into consideration again as a
mitigating circumstance when imposing a punishment.
Article 67. Circumstances aggravating punishment
1. For the purposes of imposing a punishment,
the following circumstances shall be deemed
to be aggravating:
(1) repetition of an offense or recidivism;
(2) the commission of an offense by a group
of persons upon prior conspiracy (paragraph
2 or 3 of Article 28);
(3) the commission of an offense based on
racial, national or religious enmity and hostility;
(4) the commission of an offense in connection
with the discharge of official or public duty
by the victim;
(5) grave consequences caused by the offense;
(6) the commission of an offense against a
minor, an elderly or helpless person;
(7) the commission of an offense against a
woman who, to the knowledge of the culprit,
was pregnant;
(8) the commission of an offense against a
person who was in a financial, official or
other dependence on the culprit;
(9) the commission of an offense through the
use of a minor, a person of unsound mind or
mentally defective person;
(10) the commission of an especially violent
offense;
(11) the commission of an offense by taking
advantage of a martial law or a state of emergency
or other extraordinary events;
(12) the commission of an offense by a generally
dangerous method;
(13) the commission of an offense by a person
in a state of intoxication resulting from
the use of alcohol, narcotic, or any other
intoxicating substances;
2. Depending on the nature of an offense committed,
a court may find any of the circumstances
specified in paragraph 1 of this Article,
other than those defined in subparagraphs
(2), (6), (7), (9), (10), and (12), not to
be aggravating, and should provide the reasons
for this decision in its judgment.
3. When imposing a punishment, a court may
not find any circumstances, other than those
defined in paragraph 1 of this Article, to
be aggravating.
4. If any of the aggravating circumstances
is specified in an article of the Special
Part of this Code as an element of an offense,
that affects its treatment, a court shall
not take it into consideration again as an
aggravating circumstance when imposing a punishment.
Article 68. Imposition of punishment for
unconsummated criminal offense and offense
committed in complicity
1. For the purposes of imposition of punishment
for an unconsummated criminal offense, a court,
while being guided by Articles 65-67 of this
Code, shall consider the degree of gravity
of a person's act, the degree of consummation
of the criminal intent, and the reasons for
which the offense was not consummated.
2. For the purposes of imposition of punishment
upon accomplices in a criminal offense, a
court, while being guided by Articles 65-67
of this Code, shall take into account the
nature and the degree of each person's participation
in the criminal offense.
Article 69. Imposition of a punishment milder
than prescribed by the law
1. In presence of several circumstances mitigating
the punishment and significantly decreasing
the degree of gravity of the offense committed,
having regard to the character of an offender,
a court may, by providing the reasons for
its judgment, impose, for a specially grave,
grave or medium grave offense, a primary punishment
lower than the lowest threshold prescribed
by a sanction of an article in the Special
Part of this Code, or change to another, milder
type of primary punishment, which is not prescribed
by a sanction of the article concerned with
this offense. In this case, the court may
not impose a punishment lower than the lowest
threshold prescribed for this type of punishment
in the General Part of this Code.
2. Based on the grounds specified in paragraph
1 of this Article, a court may decide not
to impose an additional punishment, which
is defined as a mandatory punishment by a
sanction of an article in the Special Part
of this Code.
Article 70. Imposition of punishment for
cumulative criminal offenses
1. In event of cumulative criminal offenses,
a court, having determined the punishment
(both primary and additional) for each offense,
shall impose a final punishment by way of
merging milder punishment into a havier one,
or by way of full or partial adding up of
imposed punishments.
2. In adding up punishments, the final cumulative
punishment shall be within the limits prescribed
by that sanction of an article in the Special
Part of this Code, which provides for a heavier
punishment. Where at least one of the criminal
offences is an intentional grave or special
grave offense, the court may impose a final
cumulative punishment within the maximum term
provided for this kind of punishment in the
General Part of this Code. Where life imprisonment
is imposed for at least one of the criminal
offenses committed, the final cumulative punishment
shall be determined by way of merging milder
punishments into life imprisonment.
3. A primary cumulative punishment may be
supplemented by additional punishments imposed
by a court for criminal offenses of which
a person was convicted.
4. A punishment shall be imposed under the
rules set out in paragraphs 1 to 3 of this
Article where, after a sentence in the case
was passed, it is established that the sentenced
person is guilty of yet another criminal offense
committed before such previous sentence was
passed. In this case, the punishment that
has been fully or partially served under the
previous sentence shall be merged into the
term of the final punishment pursuant to the
rules set out in Article 72 of this Code.
Article 71. Imposition of punishment by
cumulating sentences
1. Where a convicted person commits a new
crime after the sentence was passed but before
the full term has been served, a court shall,
fully or partially supplement the new sentence
with the unexpired term of the previous sentence.
2. In adding punishments through cumulation
of sentences, the total term of punishment
may not exceed the maximum term prescribed
for this kind of punishment in the General
Part of this Code. In cumulating punishments
of imprisonment, the final term shall not
exceed fifteen years, and where at least one
of the offenses is a special grave offense,
the total term may exceed fifteen years but
should not exceed twenty five years. In cumulating
punishments of life sentence or any milder
punishments, the total term of the final punishment
imposed through cumulation of sentences shall
be determined by way of merging any milder
punishments into life imprisonment.
3. Any additional punishment imposed at least
in one of the sentences or an unserved term
of any additional punishment under a previous
sentence shall be added to the final primary
punishment imposed through cumulation of sentences.
4 The final punishment imposed through cumulation
of sentences shall be longer than the punishment
imposed for any new criminal offense and also
the unserved term of any previous sentence.
5. Where a convicted person commits two or
more criminal offenses after the sentence
was passed but before the full term has been
served, a court shall impose punishments for
these new offenses under rules set out in
Article 70 of this Code, and then fully or
partially add the unexpired term of the previous
sentence to the final punishment determined
by way of cumulation of sentences within the
limits prescribed in paragraph 2 of this Article.
Article 72. Rules of adding up punishments
and merging previous terms
1. In adding up punishments for cumulative
offenses and cumulative sentences, a milder
type of punishment is merged into a heavier
punishment based on the following proportions:
(1) one day of imprisonment equals to:
(a) one day of custody in a penal battalion
for military servants, or one day of arrest;
(b) two days of restraint of liberty;
(c) three days of service restriction for
military servants, or three days of correctional
labor;
(d) eight hours of community service;
(2) one day of custody in a penal battalion
for military servants, or one day of arrest
custody equals to:
(a) two days of restraint of liberty;
(b) three days of service restriction for
military servants, or three days of correctional
labor;
(3) one day of restraint of liberty equals
to three days of service restriction for military
servants, or three days of correctional labor.
(4) one day of restraint of liberty of arrest
equals to eight hours of community service.
2. In imposing a punishment through cumulation
of offenses or sentences, where the punishment
is to be correctional labor or service restrictions
for military servants, only the terms of these
punishments shall be added up. Any deductions
from salaries of a convicted person shall
not be added up and shall be calculated for
each sentence separately.
3. Primary punishments of a fine, or deprivation
of the right to occupy certain positions or
engage in certain activities, when imposed
as aggregate sentences for an aggregate of
crimes, do not merge and shall be served separately.
4. Additional punishments of various types
shall always be served separately.
5. A court shall merge the pretrial detention
into the term of punishment, in case of sentencing
to imprisonment, on a day for day bases or
pursuant to the rules set out in paragraph
1 of this Article. In imposing punishments
not specified in paragraph 1 of this Article,
a court may take into account the pretrial
detention and mitigate the punishment or discharge
the convicted person from serving it.
Article 73. Calculation of terms of punishment
The terms of punishment shall be calculated
in years, months and hours. In case of substituting,
adding up or merging of pretrial detention,
the terms of punishment may be calculated
in days.
