Author

Kashapov R.M.

Title of article

Deliberately false information and slander of innocent person: concept, liability, consequences

Section

Section 3. Criminal Law

Issue, year

2 (32) 2015

Abstract

Deliberately false information is often the basis of procedural checks and initiating criminal cases. Restraints are wrongly applied to innocent persons, charges are brought against them. As a result, it complicates the routine activities of law enforcement agencies, counteracting solving and investigating crimes. It’s proved that the law doesn’t provide guidance for requiring a defendant to testify truthfully, however, it doesn’t give him (her) the right to lie. The suspect or accused has the right to refuse to testify or to testify, without violating the rights and freedoms of other persons not involved in crime commission. Due to the difference between deliberately false information and slander of innocent person it’s proposed to distinguish false information about the event and false information about the person alleged to have committed a crime. It’s argued that one should not apply the elements of deliberately false information to any attempts of perpetrator to evade criminal liability. The main thing is the absence of slander of certain person in committing the crime for which the offender is brought to criminal liability. Deliberately false report concerning committing the crime in the media should be qualified as deliberately false information, not as slander (the main difference is in the subjective side). Taking into account the above mentioned views, the author of the article proposes to establish criminal liability for slander of innocent person and offers the following wording of the grounds of criminal responsibility: “Mocking, slander, artificial creation or falsification of prosecution evidence against obviously innocent person, – are punished…”

Keywords

deliberately false information, slander of innocent person, commission of crime, counteraction to solving and investigating crimes.

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