Coercion to Testify: Changes in the Criminal Law and Problems of Qualification

A heightened recent attention to the abuse of office by law enforcement employees does not reduce the severity of this problem. In fact, the number of such crimes is not decreasing, and their latency remains high. The facts of mass violence and torture used by law enforcement employees, publicized in 2021, resulted in the introduction of amendments to Art. 117, 286 and 302 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. A complex analysis of the abovementioned amendments to the criminal legislation enforced by the Federal Law № 307-ФЗ of July 14, 2022 is conducted. The analysis reveals both conceptual drawbacks and contradictions, and the technical-juridical flaws of the new edition of Art. 302 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The author outlines the problems that might arise in the qualification of the coercion to testify by the law enforcement employees, specifically, in terms of the delineation between the coercion to testify and the violent abuse of office. The author also raises the questions of justifying the differentiation of liability for coercion to testify, especially in view of the appropriateness of the use of the means of legal technique in the construction of characteristic features. Special attention is paid to the legislative regulation of torture as a special characteristic feature of the coercion to testify, which lacks clear and unambiguous contents. In general, the abovementioned innovations in the criminal law are assessed critically and it is concluded that they failed to lead to the planned result — heightening the effectiveness of enforcing Art. 302 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the practice of qualifying the abuse of office in the sphere of law enforcement. The author concludes that it is necessary to undertake a scientifically grounded and systemic improvement of criminal legislation establishing liability for illegal and violent actions of the law enforcement employees, to harmonize the rules for the qualification of the corresponding crimes and to optimize the practice of law enforcement.