Commentary to article 68. Exemption from criminal liability in connection with a change in the situation of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan

     1. A person who has committed an act containing signs of a crime may be released from criminal liability by a court if it is recognized that by the time the case is considered in court, due to a change in the situation, the act he committed has ceased to be socially dangerous.      

2. A person who has committed a minor or moderate crime for the first time may be released from criminal liability by a court if it is established that, due to subsequent impeccable behavior, this person cannot be considered socially dangerous by the time the case is considered in court.      

In this article, the legislator provides two independent grounds for exemption from criminal liability.:      

Due to the change in the situation, the committed act had ceased to be socially dangerous by the time the case was considered in court.;      

if a person who has committed a minor and moderate crime for the first time has ceased to be socially dangerous by the time the case is considered in court.      

When deciding on exemption from criminal liability in accordance with Part 1 of Article 68 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, it is necessary to establish what exactly the change in the situation was and why it led to the loss of the public danger of the committed act.      

A change in the situation should be understood as such significant changes in objective social conditions, in which not only specific, but also all other similar acts lose their social danger. A change in the situation may also consist in the absence of special conditions of the place and time of the commission of acts that betray its criminal character. For example, it cannot be considered a crime to catch valuable fish species in prohibited places if the excessively increased number of its livestock in conditions of a shortage of feed is on the verge of mass death and if, with this in mind, fishing in such places was subsequently officially allowed.      

In Part 2 of Article 68 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the law establishes the absence of public danger for a person who has committed a minor or moderate crime for the first time. Thus, the release can only occur under the following circumstances:      

a) the crime was committed for the first time;      

b) the crime belongs to the category of crimes of minor or moderate severity;      

c) the behavior of the person at the time of the hearing of the case in court indicates the loss of public danger.      

In the case of exemption from criminal liability due to the loss of public danger to the identity of the perpetrator, changes can occur both at the will of the perpetrator (for example, a transfer to a job that is not associated with a source of public danger or with financial responsibility, if the criminal act was at one time associated with a violation of safety rules on transport or embezzlement of other people's property), and regardless of his will (dismissal of a person from work, conscription, etc.).      

The current Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan does not specify at what point the loss of public danger of the acts of the person who committed it should be established. However, it is obvious that it must be established by the time the case is considered in court. Exemption from criminal liability on the grounds specified in Article 68 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan is carried out with the consent of the prosecutor by the body of inquiry or the investigator, as well as by the prosecutor or the court.

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

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