One Plus One Equals Two, or Reconsidering the Qualification of Murder and Its Associated Crime

This article addresses a key issue in the legal qualification of murders described in subparagraphs “b”, “z”, and “k” of Part 2, Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, particularly when such murders are committed in conjunction with other crimes. This matter has long been the subject of debate among legal practitioners. By analyzing the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code, rulings from the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, academic literature, and judicial practice, the author arrives at the following conclusions. Murder committed in connection with kidnapping, robbery, extortion, banditry, rape, or violent sexual acts – as outlined in the aforementioned subparagraphs – is a form of intentional homicide in which a causal and mutually dependent relationship exists between the murder and the accompanying crime. In such cases, the act of murder is driven by the commission of one of the specified crimes. Murder associated with these other offenses does not fall under the exception listed in Part 1 of Article 17 of the Criminal Code of RF, which relates to the legal concept of concurrence of crimes (i.e., committing two or more separate crimes). This is because in each of the qualifying scenarios under subparagraphs “b”, “z”, and “k” of Part 2, Article 105, the law establishes liability for a single, aggravated crime – namely, murder with a specific aggravating circumstance (i.e., its connection to one of the listed crimes) – rather than for multiple crimes. However, the article argues that when both the murder and the associated crime are committed, they should be qualified cumulatively. That is, legal qualification should involve both Part 2, Article 105 and the relevant article corresponding to the accompanying offense: Articles 126 (Kidnapping), 131 (Rape), 132 (Violent Sexual Acts), 162 (Robbery), 163 (Extortion), or 209 (Banditry) of the Criminal Code of RF.