Commentary on Article 465. Violation of the Rules of Navigation of Ships under the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

1. Violation of the rules governing the navigation or operation of military ships, resulting through negligence in the death of a person or other grave consequences, shall be punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of up to seven years or imprisonment for the same term, with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to ten years, or without such deprivation.

Each ship of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan performs combat missions both independently and in cooperation with other ships, aviation, coastal missile and artillery units, technical surveillance and communications posts, naval infantry, as well as units of other branches of the Armed Forces.

The public danger of this act lies in the fact that it threatens human life and health, leads to the disruption of military activities and the implementation of adopted decisions, reduces the combat readiness and combat capability of the Naval Forces of Kazakhstan, and undermines the state's defense capability.

The object of the crime under consideration is the established rules ensuring the safety of people, property and equipment during the navigation or operation of military ships.

Military naval vessels include aircraft carriers, submarines, torpedo boats and other watercraft powered by engines, sails or the muscular energy of crew members (rowing boats), which are in service with the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Navigation of military ships shall be understood as the control of a naval vessel during its movement, from the moment it is weighed anchor (the mooring line is cast off) until the vessel comes to a complete stop and is moored at a berth or anchored.

These rules are regulated by the Naval Regulations of the Navy, as well as other manuals, instructions and orders.

The rules governing the operation of military ships include the procedure established by regulatory legal acts, which ensures the safety of the vessel's navigation, the use of shipborne combat equipment, the loading and unloading of the vessel, and the procedure for carrying out a set of measures to ensure safe navigation and other work on board the ship, including measures ensuring the survivability of the vessel.

The objective element is characterized by a violation of the rules governing the navigation or operation of military ships, which results through negligence in the death of a person or other grave consequences, as well as the existence of a causal relationship between the violation and the consequences. The nature of the violations must be determined by reference to the requirements of the legal provisions that should have been complied with in a particular situation.

Violations of the rules governing the navigation and operation of military ships may be expressed in failure to comply with established requirements when controlling a vessel or operating its individual units. Thus, an unlawful change in its course and speed, violation of the rules for towing and escorting ships, and failure to take measures to ensure the survivability of a vessel in circumstances threatening its destruction, for example, operating a vessel at night with defective signal equipment, and so forth, fall within the elements of this criminal act.

A violation of the rules of navigation occurs when the negligent death of a person or other grave consequences ensue.

The consequences that have occurred must be causally connected with the violations of the rules of navigation.

Other grave consequences shall be understood to include the shipwreck, damage to port facilities, harm to the health of a significant number of people, etc.

By its legal structure, the corpus delicti is material. The act shall be deemed completed from the moment of the death of at least one person or the occurrence of other grave consequences, the definitions of which are provided in the commentary to Article 462 of the Criminal Code.

The subjective element is characterized by negligence in the form of either recklessness or carelessness.

In the case of recklessness, the perpetrator foresees the possibility of socially dangerous consequences arising from their actions (inaction), but, without sufficient grounds, frivolously relies on preventing those consequences.

In the case of carelessness, the perpetrator does not foresee the possibility of socially dangerous consequences arising from their actions (inaction), although, with due attention and foresight, they should and could have foreseen those consequences.

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 is special, namely, the ship's commander and other military personnel whose duties include compliance with the rules governing the navigation of military ships entrusted to them for the performance of their official duties or combat missions.

The act provided for in Article 465 of the Criminal Code is classified as a crime of medium severity.

Commentary of 2021 on the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, by Isidor Shamilovich Borchashvili, Honored 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, Honored Worker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

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