The State Duma rejected a bill to introduce separate criminal liability for staged car accidents: the relevant committee pointed to the duplication of the Criminal Code norms.
The issue was about amendments that proposed to single out the deliberate creation of a traffic accident for the purpose of extortion as an independent crime. For such actions, the authors of the initiative proposed a punishment of up to four years of imprisonment, and under aggravating circumstances, up to seven years.
However, the Committee on State Building and Legislation gave a negative conclusion. The review indicated that such acts are already covered by the current norms of criminal law governing crimes against traffic safety and the operation of transport.
It is also noted that the wording on extortion in the bill does not meet the criteria of Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Without its characteristics, such actions cannot be classified as crimes against property.
Information about the rejection of the bill is published on the official website of the parliament.
