Commentary on Article 461 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Loss of Military Property

1. Violation of the rules for safeguarding weapons, ammunition or military equipment entrusted for official use, if this results in their loss, —

shall be punishable by a fine in an amount of up to two thousand monthly calculation indices, or corrective labour in the same amount, or restriction of liberty for a term of up to two years, or deprivation of liberty for the same term.

The public danger of this act lies in the violation of the rules for safeguarding weapons, ammunition or military equipment entrusted for official use, resulting in their loss. Its public danger also lies in the fact that the lost items may be used for criminal purposes.

The object of the crime is the established procedure for the possession, use and safeguarding of military property, which constitutes the material basis of the combat readiness and combat capability of the Armed Forces, other troops and military formations of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Military property is considered entrusted when it has been transferred to the guilty person in accordance with the established procedure for official use.

The objective element of the crime is characterised by:

violation of the rules for safeguarding weapons, ammunition or military equipment entrusted for official use;

material damage in the form of the loss of military property;

a causal relationship between the socially dangerous act and the harmful consequences that have occurred.

The rules for safeguarding military property are governed by statutes, instructions, manuals, orders and other regulatory legal acts. Violation of the established procedure may result in the loss of military property entrusted to a servicemember for official use.

Loss means the removal, against the will of the servicemember, from their possession of property entrusted for official use. In this case, the property may have been forgotten, misplaced, destroyed, etc.

By its legal structure, the corpus delicti is material. The crime is deemed completed from the moment the military property is lost.

The subjective element of the loss of military property is characterised by guilt in the form of negligence, manifested as recklessness or carelessness. The guilty person either is aware that they are violating the rules for safeguarding military property entrusted for official use and foresees the possibility of its loss, but frivolously assumes that the harmful consequences will not occur, or is unaware of the act being committed and does not foresee the possibility of negative consequences, although, with due attention and foresight, they should and could have foreseen them.

Motives and purpose do not affect the legal classification of the act, but are taken into account by the court when imposing punishment.

The subject of the crime is special, namely a servicemember, regardless of their position or military rank, to whom military property has been entrusted for official use in the performance of military service duties.

The act provided for in Article 461 of the Criminal Code is classified as a minor offence.

The 2021 Commentary on the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan was authored by Isidor Shamilovich Borchashvili, Honoured Figure of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences, member of the Scientific Advisory Councils under the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, member of the working group on reform of the law enforcement system under the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Honoured Employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

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