The Human Rights Ombudsman in the Donetsk People’s Republic explains the general legal provisions of property confiscation as a type of criminal punishment provided for in Clause «г» of Article 43 of the Criminal Code of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
According to the Part 3 of Art. 31 of the DPR CPC in the course of criminal proceedings for an offence for which an additional punishment in the form of property confiscation may be applied, the investigative authority, the investigator, the prosecutor are obliged to take measures to ensure the possible confiscation of the property of the defendant.
It should be explained that in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 105 of the DPR CC, property confiscation consists in the compulsory gratuitous seizure of all or part of the property that is the personal property of the convicted person into the ownership of the state. If part of the property is confiscated, then the court must indicate which part of the property is confiscated, or list the confiscated items.
Confiscation of property may be imposed only in cases provided for by the Special Part of this Code.
That is, confiscation of property, as a type of criminal punishment, is applied to a convicted person only for those categories of crimes, the sanction for the commission of which directly provides for the application of this measure of criminal-legal influence.
Part 1 of Art. 139 of the DPR CPC states that provision of a civil remedy and possible confiscation of property is carried out by seizing of the deposits, valuables, and other property of the accused or suspect or persons who are legally financially responsible for his/her actions, wherever these deposits, valuables and other property were, as well as by seizure of the property on which the arrest was imposed.
Thus, the norms of the criminal procedure legislation of the Donetsk People’s Republic provide for a legal mechanism that regulates the procedure for the activities of authorized officials to ensure the implementation of the provisions of Part 1 of Art. 105 of the DPR CC. Often, intruders take actions aimed at getting rid of property, valuables, etc. that can be confiscated.
In the case when taking response measures to prevent the “concealment” of property that is subject to seizure by the state, making attempts to unlawfully “waste” it are absent, the appointment of the type of punishment under consideration to the person, facing criminal prosecution, will be inappropriate.
