Responsibility for domestic violence and alcoholism

Alcoholism is an affliction that affects not only antisocial individuals but also ordinary people with education, jobs, and families. While there are established mechanisms to guide individuals from the first category back to the right path, as they are registered with various services and departments, alcoholism within an ordinary family often remains a hidden issue. People quietly succumb to it, typically without causing visible harm to society. Only their relatives and loved ones suffer.

The following measures of responsibility are provided for offenses committed in the domestic sphere:

- Article 9.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus (intentional infliction of bodily harm that did not cause short-term health disorder or insignificant permanent disability) provides for a fine of ten to thirty basic units or administrative arrest;

- Part 2 of Article 9.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus (assault that did not cause bodily harm, intentional infliction of pain, physical or mental suffering, committed against a close relative or family member, if these actions do not constitute a crime) provides for a fine of up to ten basic units or administrative arrest;

- Article 17.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus (petty hooliganism) provides for a fine of two to thirty basic units or administrative arrest;

- Part 1 of Article 17.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus (consumption of alcoholic, low-alcohol beverages or beer on the street, at a stadium, in a public garden, park, public transport or other public places, except for places intended for consumption of alcoholic, low-alcohol beverages or beer, or appearing in a public place in a state of alcoholic intoxication that offends human dignity and public morality) provides for a fine of up to eight basic units;

- Part 3 of Article 17.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus (actions provided for in Part 1 of this Article, committed repeatedly within one year after the imposition of an administrative penalty for the same offense)

provides for a fine of two to fifteen base units or administrative arrest.

When violent acts are committed against a victim systematically, as well as if they were committed once, but are calculated to cause particularly agonizing pain, physical or mental suffering to their victim, the guilty person will be brought to criminal responsibility under Article 154 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (torture), for which arrest for up to three months, or restriction of liberty for up to three years, or deprivation of liberty for the same period with or without a fine is provided.

If torture is committed against a pregnant woman, an elderly person, a minor, a person in a helpless state or dependent position, or by a person previously convicted of torture, the court may apply punishment in the form of restriction of liberty for a period of one to three years with or without a fine, or deprivation of liberty for a period of one to five years with or without a fine.

In cases where the victim felt a real threat of murder, grievous bodily harm, or destruction of property, a decision will be made to bring the guilty person to criminal responsibility under Article 186 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, which provides for punishments in the form of public works, or a fine, or correctional labor for up to one year, or arrest for up to three months, or restriction of liberty for up to two years, or deprivation of liberty for the same period.

In accordance with the requirements of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Fundamentals of Crime Prevention Activities", a person who commits violence against family members may be issued a protective order.

Protective order – establishment of restrictions for a citizen who has committed domestic violence on performing certain actions:

– to attempt to find out the whereabouts of a citizen who has suffered from domestic violence, if this citizen is in a place unknown to the perpetrator of violence;

– to visit placesthe whereabouts of a citizen who has suffered domestic violence, if this citizen is temporarily not residing or staying at the joint place of residence or stay with the citizen against whom a protective order has been issued;

– to communicate with a citizen who has suffered domestic violence, including by phone, using the Internet computer network.

A protective order, with the written consent of an adult citizen who has suffered domestic violence, obliges the citizen who has committed domestic violence to temporarily leave the residential premises jointly with the citizen who has suffered domestic violence and prohibits the disposal of common joint property.

Violation of the requirements of a protective order entails administrative liability in the form of a fine ranging from two to fifty basic units, or administrative arrest.

 

Assistant to the Vitebsk

Transport Prosecutor                                                 

Dmitry Kubrakov