The Criminal Code establishes liability for official forgery. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for punishment for making officials knowingly false information in official documents. The correction of the information contained in such papers that distort their content is also considered inappropriate. The subjects of crimes can also be civil servants or employees of local authorities who are not officials. The corpus delicti is formed in the presence of personal interest or selfish motive. Qualifications will not matter the goals that the subject intended to achieve.
Sanctions
Official forgery (Article 292) is punishable by:
- Fine. Its value is from 100 to 200 minimum wages or equal to the salary or other income of the offender for 1-2 months.
- Mandatory work. Their duration is from 180 to 240 hours.
- By arrest. It can last up to six months.
- Correctional work from 1 to 2 liters.
- Imprisonment up to 2 liters.
Comments
Official forgery (Article 292 of the Criminal Code) is considered a crime against state power. It differs from other criminal acts, the punishment for which is formulated in Sec. 30 of the Code. First of all, only a special subject can commit such a crime. This can be an official, a civil servant, or an employee of a local authority. On the subjective side, official forgery is characterized by the presence of exclusively direct intent on the part of the perpetrator. The disposition of the norm specifically indicates this circumstance - the deliberate actions of the person. In addition, as a mandatory feature of the subjective side acts personal interest or self-interest.
Motives
The selfish interest of the entity committing official forgery consists in the person’s desire to receive free illegal profit or property gain. He can desire it both personally for himself and for his loved ones. Other interest can be expressed in a variety of activities. Often, it is an assessment category, which often has to be carefully motivated in a lawsuit. Personal interest can be manifested as a desire to please bosses with the hope of providing them with mutual services afterwards, careerism, nepotism, and so on. 
An object
As it acts the normal functioning of state authorities, the interests of civil service in the structures of local self-government. A generic object of abuse is the work of the public service of the Russian Federation, a region of a country, or a system of territorial institutions of power. Along with this, according to Art. 12 of the Constitution, local self-government is independent and independent of state bodies. In this regard, in each case, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between immediate and specific objects of encroachment.
Important point
Considering official forgery (Article 292), one should not allow confusion of such concepts as the “object” and “subject” of a crime. The latter, mainly, is material evidence. The subject, according to many experts, is a more procedural definition. Art. 81 of the Code of Criminal Procedure directly points to material evidence as objects that have become instruments of crime or its traces have been preserved. There is a reference to the object of the attack, but its concept itself needs to be clarified. In particular, if the appearance of a thing changes, then it acquires a characteristic of the evidence of the event or often guilt - the direct product of the act and pointing to it as the cause of the crime.
Thing
As it should be considered not just a material medium of any information, written documents of federal structures of state power and state administration of subjects, territorial self-government, other institutions of state and municipal type. Official forgery takes place if these acts are official. Such documents are subject to certain requirements of the legislation:
- In the actual sense, such written papers must certify specific events or facts that have a specific legal value. These may be documents containing legal prohibitions or permissions.
- The official act must contain the required details, that is, have the appropriate form. This type of documents contains the date, stamp, numbers (incoming / outgoing), the name of the position of the authorized person, signature, seal. It is worth noting here that there may not be a letterhead as such. The most important features of an official document are a stamp or seal, as well as the signature of an authorized employee or official.
Objective part
Service forgery is expressed in two forms:
- Entering into official written documents information that is obviously not true.
- Correction of the information contained in the act, correction, distorting the actual meaning of the text.
Considering the act in accordance with norm 292 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“official forgery”), it should be borne in mind that the method of execution can be both intellectual and material. The latter can be expressed in different ways. For example, it can be mechanical actions: erasure, fakes, etching of the source text and so on. The Criminal Code categorizes the intellectual service forgery as the manufacture of an initially falsified false document.
Fact finding
Qualifying the act under Art. Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Official forgery”, it is necessary to determine the presence of the event of the crime committed. First of all, it should be established where the official document came from. It is important to determine whether the subject of the crime was empowered to sign an act, that is, whether he was a “relevant person” in this case. If his duties did not include such actions or he falsified an unofficial paper, then his behavior can be qualified under 327 Art. UK. Service forgery in this case may not be established. The competition of these articles is also likely. 
Crime design
Official forgery (292 norm) has a formal composition. Such a crime does not require any negative consequences. To recognize the act as completed, it is sufficient to include in the official written act information that is obviously false, or any adjustments that will distort its actual content. Actions such as sending a document to one or another authority, handing a paper to a citizen, or other methods of use are outside the scope of the commented article. The fact of the occurrence of negative consequences, the amount of harm caused may be taken into account when determining the punishment.
Goals
In law, the question of their establishment is not sanctified. The purpose of falsification by the subject of an official document may be related to future events. For example, a fake act may be used to commit another assault. In such cases, the perpetrator is liable at the same time for preparation for other crimes.
Differentiation of formulations
The assault in question may have competing crimes. This may create some difficulties for law enforcement. This problem becomes particularly relevant in cases where officials act as subjects of a crime. For example, difficulties occur with acts falling under 285 Art.Service forgery in this case may be a means of expressing abuse of authority. However, with qualification according to the norm 285, the occurrence of consequences is necessary. They are given in the dispositive part of the article. The composition of the abuse is determined by law as material. If the act is considered Art. 286, then in addition to these consequences, it is necessary to establish the fact of abuse of authority. 
The most difficult in the practice of investigation and legal proceedings may be the case of delimitation of official forgery from bribery. The actions of the bribe giver in some situations can be expressed in this way. When establishing the mercenary nature of the behavior of an official, questions may arise regarding qualifications in the aggregate of acts. It seems that in such situations it is advisable to be guided by the provisions of Art. 17 of part 3. They indicate that if the act falls under the general and special norm, then their totality is absent, and criminal liability will occur in accordance with the latter. Crime covered by Art. 292, when committed by an official in the circumstances formulated in the dispositive part of Art. 290 qualifies for this article.
Additionally
As indicated above, the crime in question is characterized by the presence of direct intent and a special motive - self-interest or personal interest. In the absence of intent, the composition of the act does not arise. The crime is over from the moment the misleading or deliberately false data is entered into the document, regardless of whether such a text was subsequently amended. When considering this circumstance, it should be borne in mind that when including in the official act information that acts as the basis for acquisition of citizenship (for example, a residence permit), the act falls under the scope of Art. 292.1 p. 1 of the Criminal Code. It contains two crimes:
- The introduction of knowingly false data by a civil servant or official into the documents, which entailed the unlawful acquisition of citizenship.
- Unlawful issuance of a Russian passport to a foreigner or stateless person.
These circumstances form the objective part of the crime. 
Arbitrage practice
In investigative measures, as in subsequent proceedings, it is necessary to exclude the likelihood of errors in the process of qualifying crimes. For example, in practice, there was a case when a senior specialist of the local government structure, who produced a forged document for a fee, is held accountable for receiving a bribe. But during the preliminary investigation, it turns out that this subject performed auxiliary functions, preparing documents on the basis of written resolutions of his superior. In this case, the work of a specialist is purely technical in nature, and he himself acts as a clerk. Disorientation of law enforcement agencies can take place in such cases if the job description of a specialist contains a lot of indications that he will exercise control in various fields. In fact, the subject may not perform such functions. In this regard, the actions of a specialist are retrained according to Art. 292. This example illustrates the precautionary function of the norm in question. Its action in such cases is aimed at preventing the development of corruption among public servants. 
Conclusion
Art. 292 of the Criminal Code is specific mainly for employees acting as subjects of a crime. Regarding officials, this rule is considered to be general to other structures against state power, the interests of the functioning of local and state government. All these acts are united by one object of encroachment. Punishment for these crimes has a fairly wide alternative in application. The sanctions include a fine, correctional and Mandatory work imprisonment and arrest.In accordance with the categorization of crimes established in Art. 15, the act in question has a slight severity. Due to the wide range of sanctions, the court can maximize individualization of punishment specifically for each case. If the commission of forgery is aimed at the implementation of other criminal acts, the behavior of the perpetrator should be qualified according to the totality of the articles. In such cases, it becomes inappropriate to talk about the relationship between the special and the general norm. So, according to the totality of the compositions, the punishment for a person who has committed official forgery and fraud, embezzlement or misappropriation may be determined.
