In Russia, and throughout the world, such an offense as domestic violence is extremely common. The legislation of the Russian Federation clearly defines the boundaries of this crime. However, the citizens of the country, although they know that this is a violation of the law, are little aware of the intricacies of this problem. Moreover, as practice shows, not only the victim and the person who committed violence do not see the full picture, but also special organizations that specialize in providing assistance to citizens who have survived violence.
Domestic violence legislation of the Russian Federation
In fact, in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, domestic violence is physical harm to a person’s health, whether it has occurred or is potential. The crime is characterized if blows, beatings, wounds, etc. were inflicted. when using physical force or weapons, both cold steel, firearms, and improvised means. The impact on the human body is also taken into account without causing harm to the outer layer. This could be, for example, poisoning.
There is also such a thing as psychological violence in the family. That is, when the victim is in constant fear, he is intimidated, using physical force. This type of violence can lead to mental and psychological trauma. This often happens when a person is kept in captivity, that is, personal freedom is limited.
The connection between physical and psychological violence is close, due to the fact that with physical violence the victim in any case receives moral trauma. And vice versa, with moral violence, physical harm is caused to health, even if sometimes minor.
Many people are interested in the question of what type of responsibility applies to sexual violence. After all, this formulation is not directly contained in the criminal law code. This particular crime refers to causing physical harm to health, an attack on the life, health and integrity of a person. This also results in psychological violence due to an attack on honor and dignity.
Domestic violence can be considered under the articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Family Code. Therefore, the victim applies either to the court or to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities, and then a civil or criminal case is initiated and carried out.
Unfortunately, there are practically no really effective legal norms for protecting the integrity of citizens today. Therefore, punitive measures may not always work, even if domestic violence, abuse of children or women and the elderly has occurred.
In the future, the picture should change dramatically, since, as the latest news says, the State Duma and the Supreme Council are doing everything possible to bring Russian legislation closer to international legal practice. This will directly affect the Criminal and Family Code.
Where does aggression come from?
It is worth remembering that aggressiveness does not arise suddenly.
This is a reflection of the emotional background that surrounds a person. It sometimes manifests itself unconsciously. When a child sees his parents communicating in a rude manner, he himself, without realizing it, shows aggression. Sometimes during play, he pushes or offends other children. Moreover, for him such behavior will be the norm, and he does not understand that this is bad. Further growing up, the presence of cruelty in his character creates certain difficulties in communicating with parents, peers and people around him. And often it interferes with your personal life. Children who grew up in families where there are many prohibitions, strict boundaries and excessive demands also very often show aggression. When principles of behavior are forcibly imposed on them, they take out their negative emotions and resentment on other children who are younger or weaker than them. Among other things, cruelty and scenes of violence have recently begun to appear on television screens very often. Young children should definitely be protected from such viewings until a certain age. After all, for an unformed psyche, this is a powerful impact. Unfortunately, aggression is present even in cartoons for children. In contrast to Soviet-era animation, when only kind animated films were created that instilled affection and responsiveness in children.
Should children be punished?
Sometimes moments arise when a child’s behavior goes beyond what is permitted and he becomes uncontrollable. When this happens, many parents admit that they are in a state of confusion and at the same time they are overcome by rage and shame for their offspring. Especially if he behaves inappropriately in public. Of course, you don’t want to scream in front of strangers, but sometimes other methods don’t help. What method should you use to correctly convey to your child the necessary information about the rules of behavior and not harm him with your rudeness? After all, it’s easier to seriously punish him once than to repeat the same thing a hundred times a day in a calm voice.
- Parents who care about the proper emotional development of their children should remember that physical punishment is an unacceptable method of education. Because it harms the child's psyche.
- Showing anger towards a child has an extremely unfavorable effect on him.
- Excessive severity causes a protest in the child, he becomes aggressive or, on the contrary, fearful and too passive.
- With physical punishment, the goal is achieved, but not for long, since often the child does not understand why he was punished.
Domestic violence against women
According to not the most rosy statistics, when it comes to domestic violence, most often a woman appears as a victim. As a rule, a representative of the fairer sex is forced to endure violent actions on the part of her partner, who is trying to control her, intimidate her, and so on. In this case, there are three types of criminal act. Let's go in order.
Psychological abuse
A psychological abuser has certain characteristics. Such a person cannot control himself, he has a changeable mood, and mostly a bad one. He is prone to regular and unreasonable jealousy and inappropriate behavior.
What are the signs of psychological violence against a woman:
- regularly criticizes on any occasion;
- humiliates and insults;
- insults, using sarcastic nicknames, ridicules, shows complete disrespect for his partner;
- strives to arrange everything in such a way that it is the woman who is to blame for this or that act;
- ignores;
- blackmails;
- compels to commit an act of an obscene nature.
Unfortunately, psychological violence cannot be classified as a legal violation.
Moral violence
With this type of violence, the dominance of one person over another is directly manifested. Such a person may intimidate his partner, threaten, criticize, etc.
Moral abusers most often behave as follows:
- monitor the victim constantly;
- prohibit communication with outsiders, thereby limiting contact with the outside world;
- sexual abstinence;
- manipulation.
Regarding the last point, the victim is influenced by subordinating the victim’s feelings to his own beliefs. This emotional pressure is hidden, while the person is fully aware of what he is doing. Despite this, by certain characteristics this can be detected and stopped:
- exalting personal qualities and achievements to us with the same characteristics of a woman;
- provokes feelings of guilt for almost any actions on the part of the wife;
- creates the preconditions, forcing the woman to praise him;
- causes distress through lies and concealment of necessary information.
If there is an open threat or intimidation, as well as if there is evidence (audio or video recordings), you can write a statement to the district police officer. Initial warnings will follow, followed by arrest, depending on the type of threats.
Physical violence
Physical violence against a woman in the family signals a gender orientation due to constant aggression and dominance. in such cases, the wife is regularly subjected to beatings, torture, and beatings. Damage to health can be either mild or moderate or severe. At the same time, oddly enough, a fairly impressive percentage of victims take this attitude for granted. Like, he hits, it means he loves.
In turn, this is a crime, and often a criminal one. Even if minor beatings occur, the spouse can be restrained with the help of the law. It is worth remembering that where harm to health is easy, serious harm is not far away. Physical violence often leads to death.
Rage of the Exes
What happened in Vsevolozhsk, alas, is absolutely typical of Russian realities. There are many such stories, even too many.
The tragedy in the beauty salon can be put on a par with the recent incident in Gorno-Altaisk - the ex-husband tried to cut off Tatyana’s hands for refusing to return. The woman's both palms were cut off, her arm was broken, and her head was injured. What happened is strongly reminiscent of the story of Margarita Gracheva, who in 2020 was taken by her husband to the forest, where he first tortured her and then cut off both hands. Before this, the woman also reported threats to the Moscow Region police, but the authorities did not respond.
In March of this year, a St. Petersburg businessman moved his ex-wife and the mother of his three children nine times. She was hospitalized with numerous injuries and a nearly severed finger of her left hand. In 2019, in Vladikavkaz, the ex-husband pursued Regina Gagaeva for several years, during which she repeatedly contacted the police. He ended up stabbing her to death. In 2018, in Cheboksary, Alexander Anufriev strangled his wife Anna Ovchinnikova, and then took her body in a suitcase to the forest. She had previously called the police twice to report death threats.
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When an apartment becomes a cage
And in Orel, the court found former district police officer Natalya Bashkatova guilty of negligence in connection with the death of local resident Yana Savchuk. When a woman called the police in 2016 because of a conflict with her former partner, Bashkatova told her: “If you are killed, we will definitely go out and describe the corpse, don’t worry.” On the same day, a man beat Savchuk to death.
“Our legislation is structured in such a way that it reacts only to the already accomplished fact of a criminal act. There is no prevention of domestic violence,” says human rights activist Alena Popova. — Not a single article allowing to prevent violence or urgently respond to alarming situations. A case will not be opened, for example, if the blows were delivered through a blanket and there are no visible signs of violence on the body. And if there are still bruises and abrasions, Article 6 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for 15 days of arrest for this. But in 98% of cases no one gets jail time—they simply fine him 5,400 rubles.”
According to Popova, victims of domestic violence are often reproached for the fact that they endure for a long time and do not leave the abuser. However, practice shows: in case of leaving, the risk of violence only increases; the aggressor no longer just beats the victim, but makes him disabled or kills him.
“Our state stands on the sidelines and watches how this all ends. It is not going to interfere - after all, these are “traditional family values,” the human rights activist notes.
Domestic violence against children
Many people cannot even imagine that parents can beat their child, and we are not talking about the fact that the father “gave a belt” to his son for this or that mistake. We are talking about systematic beatings, instilling fear, insults, and so on.
It is scary when both parents treat a child this way, because they will carefully hide their actions, and rarely the truth can come to the surface. More often, one of the parents may resort to physical violence. In this case, the mother must immediately act, namely, contact either the police or the relevant social services to collect all the necessary evidence to deprive the father of parental rights and subsequent punishment. Unfortunately, many women simply endure it, fearing the father of their child.
We are talking specifically about violence by a man, not a woman, since these are more frequent cases.
This cannot be tolerated, at least because in addition to physical injuries, the child also receives psychological ones, and this is fraught with consequences in the future.
Sexual abuse of a child
This is a separate topic. This is a criminal punishment without options. Again, according to statistics, a huge percentage of such acts remain unpunished due to reticence on the part of the second spouse, or, well, ignorance. Often in sexual assault, the person intimidates the victim or takes advantage of his or her trust. And the truth is, even if it comes to light, it won’t be soon. But the child’s life will be ruined once and for all, and in order to improve it, the help of specialists will be required, and the treatment will be lengthy.
What to do if you suspect that a child has been abused? First of all, you need to contact a specialist. Special centers with relevant doctors, psychologists and social workers, whose task is to identify the problem in such a way as not to harm the child’s psyche, and also to collect all the necessary evidence for the subsequent prosecution of the citizen who committed violence or harassment.
Babysitter violence
Being new parents is wonderful. however, not always even one of them can be at home. To support the family, mother and father are forced to work every day. It’s good if grandparents who can look after the child come to the rescue. But if this is not possible, parents are forced to hire a nanny.
Here the issue of security arises. This is an outsider, and it is unknown how he will behave as a child. Quite often in this case there is physical violence, intimidation, and so on. To stop this, at a minimum, parents should install video surveillance cameras around the apartment or house in order to record all the actions of the nanny and child.
Beauty requires sacrifice
The relationship between Sergei and Elena before the tragedy lasted about seven years, and they got married three years ago, as evidenced by photographs from the registry office published on the victim’s VKontakte page. The photographs show a confident, black-eyed woman with a heavy braid on her shoulder, wearing a bright short dress and high heels. Next to him is a shaved man who looks much older than the bride. The couple does not look like newlyweds - this is not their first marriage, and therefore only their common two-year-old daughter is in white in the photo. Elena and Sergey are natives of the republics of the former Union - he is from Belarus, she is from Moldova. At home, the woman is survived by her parents and two sons from her first marriage, who live with their father.
5683 Violence that no one deserves
According to friends, before the pandemic, the couple got along with each other, the woman was engaged in business - at the Elena Shpak Beauty Studio they do manicures, pedicures, sugaring and eyelash extensions. She rented space in the Leader shopping center on Magistralnaya Street - her husband helped with the money, which he later reproached her with more than once. Sergei himself worked as a driver of special equipment. With the beginning of self-isolation, problems began in the family - friends note that Elena took her daughter, rented an apartment and filed for divorce. Sergei, who refused to accept the breakup, was constantly seen either in the shopping center near the salon or at the kindergarten, where he tried to see his daughter and persuade his wife to return.
On October 27, Elena contacted the police, reporting that five days ago her husband performed a barbaric tonsure on her when she was taking winter clothes from the apartment. She wrote a statement and asked for security, but the officers refused to initiate criminal proceedings. Elena did not walk for long with her torn bob. On November 11, the husband appeared again at the shopping center, where he shot his ex in the face with a traumatic pistol and then hit her several times with an ax. Sergei was detained and a murder case was opened.
What else can you do?
There are also civil legal mechanisms that are not directly intended for these purposes, but can be used to protect rights if there are children in the family. If the spouse who uses violence is the owner of the residential premises, then it is possible to file a claim to collect alimony from him on the basis of Art. 31 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation to require that the child and (or) spouse, if she receives alimony, be provided with other living quarters.
If the spouse who uses violence is an employer or a member of the employer’s family, then it is possible to deprive him of parental rights in court on the basis of Art. 69 of the RF IC, and then demand his eviction due to the impossibility of living together with a child under Art. 91 Housing Code of the Russian Federation.
You should know it
If you have become a victim of domestic violence, then first of all you should call the police on 02, notify relatives and neighbors, who will subsequently be able to act as witnesses in court, and, if necessary, ask them for asylum. All bodily injuries should be recorded at the emergency room, and traces of the crime - torn clothing, blood prints, broken furniture - should be preserved. For help and advice, you can also contact the all-Russian helpline 8-800-7000-600.
If you still have questions about the topic of legal instructions, ask them to the lawyers of 9111.ru through the form on the website.
