The Constitutional Court again refused to return the car withdrawn for drunk driving
The Constitutional Court (KS) of the Russian Federation issued a ruling on the complaint of a citizen Peter Vasiliev, who disputed the legality of Part 1 of Art. 104.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on confiscation of property. Earlier, Mr. Vasiliev was convicted under Part 1 of Art. 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for a second drunk ride and sentenced to compulsory work (a specific period is not mentioned in the materials of the Constitutional Court). The car was confiscated by the court as an instrument of crime.
The applicant found an article by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on confiscation of unconstitutional, since it provides for the unconditional removal of the car, even if it was the only source of income of the convict. Mr. Vasiliev pointed out that convicts for some environmental crimes of the tools of crimes would not confiscate if they are a source of livelihood (for example, this applies to hunters from small peoples). According to the applicant, this puts him “in an unequal position” with convicts under other articles of the Criminal Code.
In the Constitutional Court, they did not agree with this logic. The court noted that the confiscation of cars for re -drunk driving under Art. 264.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “is proportionate to the public danger of act, is objectively justified in nature” and does not allow arbitrary applications. In addition, they referred to their own decree of July 5, 2021. This document refers to the instruments of extraction of hunting resources of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation and it is said that the features of legal regulation on these lands are “due to the geographical and climatic features of their original habitat”. For this reason, now they indicated in the Constitutional Court, an article by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on confiscation of property cannot be regarded “as a violation of the rights” of the applicant. The complaint of Peter Vasiliev was refused.
Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, providing for the confiscation of cars for re -driving, for driving without rights and multiple trips to the oncoming lane or significant speed excess (Articles 264.1, 264.2 and 264.3 of the Criminal Code), began to operate in July 2022. As Kommersant previously reported, in the second half of 2022, according to judicial statistics, 614 cars were converted to state property, and in the first half of 2024 – already 5.8 thousand (See “Kommersant” dated February 4, 2025).
