Commentary to article 27. The concept of complicity in a crime The Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

     Complicity in a crime is recognized as the intentional joint participation of two or more persons in the commission of an intentional crime.      

In accordance with Article 27 of the Criminal Code, complicity in a crime is recognized as the intentional joint participation of two or more persons in the commission of an intentional crime. This provision is reflected in the Regulatory Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On certain issues of the application by courts of legislation on liability for banditry and other crimes committed in complicity" dated June 21, 2001, where paragraph 2 it is noted: "complicity in a crime can only take place when committing an intentional crime, therefore, the commission of a crime by several persons through negligence cannot be considered as the commission of a crime by a group of persons."      

The legislative definition of complicity includes its objective and subjective features. At the same time, objective signs characterize the manifestation of complicity in objective reality, subjective signs reflect its internal content, that is, they characterize the existing mental relationship between the participants in a socially dangerous illegal act committed jointly. There are four objective and two subjective features in the definition of complicity.      

The first objective sign of complicity is quantitative, that is, it is the participation of two or more persons. A crime committed alone will never be recognized as having been committed in complicity. Complicity in a crime can only be discussed if the crime is committed by at least two persons. The content of the quantitative sign of complicity boils down to the fact that two or more persons specified in the definition must have the properties of the subject of the crime, that is, they must be recognized as sane individuals who have reached the age from which criminal responsibility for this act begins.      

In the Normative Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On judicial practice in cases of embezzlement" dated July 11, 2003 (as amended and supplemented), paragraph 10 clarifies that "an act cannot be regarded as committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, intentionally committed together with a person under the age of who is criminally responsible for this type of crime, or with a person who has been declared insane."      

The Regulatory Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On certain issues of the application by courts of legislation on liability for banditry and other crimes committed in complicity" in paragraph 3 clarifies that the qualifying sign "commission of a crime by a group of persons" in accordance with Part 1 of Article 31 of the Criminal Code may be attributed to accomplices in cases where, in its the commission involved two or more performers.      

The second objective sign of complicity indicates that it is not just participation, but joint participation. Therefore, a socially dangerous illegal act committed at the same time and in the same place by two or more persons who did not combine their efforts to achieve a criminal goal, but each of them acted on their own, is not recognized as complicity. At the same time, combining the efforts of a person with the criminal activity of another person that has already begun forms complicity. So, if a person, taking advantage of the absence of a seller in the department, stole goods, and in order to take them out, turned to another for help, promising to share the stolen goods, what these persons have done constitutes complicity.      

Joint participation means combining the actions of accomplices, when each of them makes certain efforts to achieve one criminal result.       The third objective sign of complicity is the presence of a common, common criminal outcome for all accomplices. The resulting consequence in the form of causing a certain type of harm should be the result of the joint criminal activity of two or more persons. Each of them makes his own "contribution" to achieving a common result for all.      

And, finally, the fourth objective sign of complicity, expressed in the presence of a direct necessary causal relationship between the act of each of the accomplices and the occurrence of a common, common criminal result for all accomplices. This sign means that the actions of the organizer, instigator, and accomplice precede the commission of the criminal act by the perpetrator and are in an interdependent, interdependent relationship both with each other and with the actions of the perpetrator, and therefore naturally lead to the onset of a common result for all.      

Any human behavior, including the joint activity of several persons, is a unity of objective and subjective. Objective signs are closely interrelated with subjective ones, which is clearly manifested when deciding on the content of the intent of the accomplices. Each of the accomplices must be aware of the socially dangerous nature of their actions, which is expressed in creating the necessary conditions for the activities of the contractor and other persons involved in the case in this particular situation, and must anticipate the possibility or inevitability of the occurrence of desired or permissible consequences as a result of their joint activities. In addition, each of the accomplices knows that his actions are one of the necessary conditions for the perpetrator to commit a crime and are therefore causally interrelated with it.      

Subjective signs of complicity include:      

- the unity of intent of all the accomplices, since we are talking about the joint participation of two or more persons;      

- the possibility of complicity in the commission of an intentional crime only.      

The content of the accomplice's intent should include:

1) the consciousness that he is not acting alone, but in conjunction with others;

2) awareness of the socially dangerous nature of their actions, as well as the actions of other accomplices. The accomplice must be aware of the elements of the crime committed by the perpetrator.;

3) the desire to achieve a common criminal result.      

In defining complicity, the legislator specifically focuses on the fact that through the joint efforts of several persons it is possible to commit only an intentional crime. Based on the legislative definition of complicity (Article 27 of the Criminal Code), it follows that reckless complicity in the criminal law is unacceptable, since it does not correspond to the established set of characteristics characterizing this institution. After all, in order to recognize that a crime was committed in complicity, it is necessary to establish the presence of all the listed objective and subjective signs. For complicity, it is necessary to have a causal relationship, the joint activity of several persons, united by a single intention.

Commentary from 2007 to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan from the Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Law, Professor, Academician of the Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences BORCHASHVILI I.Sh.                  

Date of amendment of the act:  08/02/2007 Date of adoption of the act:  08/02/2007 Place of acceptance:  NO Authority that adopted the act: 180000000000 Region of operation:  100000000000 NPA registration number assigned by the regulatory body:  167 Status of the act:  new Sphere of legal relations:  028000000000 Report form:  COMM Legal force:  1900 Language of the Act:  rus

 Constitution Law Code Standard Decree Order Decision Resolution Lawyer Almaty Lawyer Legal service Legal advice Civil Criminal Administrative cases Disputes Defense Arbitration Law Company Kazakhstan Law Firm Court Cases