National penalties - life imprisonment

Russian Federation

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

General Part

Section III. Punishment

Chapter 9. The Concept and the Purposes of Punishment.

Types of Punishment.

Article 56. Deprivation of Liberty for a Definite Term

1. Deprivation of freedom shall amount to the isolation of the convict from society by sending him to a settlement colony, placing him into an educational colony, into a medical treatment and reformatory institution or into a reformatory colony of general, strict or special regime, or into prison.

2. Deprivation of liberty shall be established for a term of two months to 20 years.

3. abolished.

4. In case of a partial or full merger of the terms of deprivation of liberty into the assignment of punishment by the cumulation of penalties, the maximum total term of deprivation of liberty may not exceed 25 years, and the cumulative sentences - 30 years.


Article 57. Deprivation of Liberty for Life

Federal Law No. 74-FZ of July 21, 2004 amended the first part of Article 57 of the present Code

1. Deprivation of liberty for life is established for the commission of especially grave crimes of attack on human life, as well as for committing especially grave crimes against public safety.

2. Deprivation of liberty for life shall not be imposed upon women, nor upon persons who have committed crimes at ages below 18 years, nor upon men who have reached 65 years of age by the time of adjudication .

Special Part

Section X. Crimes Against State Power

Chapter 31. Crimes Against the Administration of Justice

Article 295. Encroachment on the Life of a Person Administering Justice or Engaged in a Preliminary Investigation

Encroachment on the life of a judge, juror, or any other person participating in the administration of justice, of a procurator, investigator, a person conducting a inquest, a defence lawyer, a forensic expert, a specialist, a bailiff, or officer of justice, and also of their relatives, in connection with the examination of cases or materials in court, with the preliminary investigation or the execution of a court's judgement or decision, or any other judicial act, accomplished for the purpose of obstructing the lawful activity of said persons or out of revenge for such activity,
shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of 12 to 20 years, or by deprivation of liberty for life, or by capital punishment .

Rome Statute

Article 77 Applicable penalties

1. Subject to article 110, the Court may impose one of the following penalties on a person convicted of a crime referred to in article 5 of this Statute:

(a) Imprisonment for a specified number of years, which may not exceed a maximum of 30 years; or

(b) A term of life imprisonment when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime and the individual circumstances of the convicted person.