Article 53. Circumstances Which Mitigate Criminal Liability and Punishment

 

1. The following shall be recognised as circumstances which mitigate criminal liability and punishment:

 

a) the commission for the first time of a lesser crime as a consequence of an accidental conjuncture of circumstances;

b) minority of a convict;

c) pregnancy;

d) the existence of small children of a convict;

e) rendering of medical and other assistance to the victim directly after the commission of a crime, voluntary compensation for property damage and moral damage inflicted as a result of a crime, and other actions directed at the compensation or atonement for damage caused by a given crime;

f) the commission of a crime as a result of concurrence of serious personal, family, or other circumstances, or by the motive of compassion;

g) the commission of a crime as a result of physical or psychic coercion, or by virtue of material, official, or other dependence;

h) the commission of a crime in violation of the conditions of lawful necessary self-defence, extreme necessity, detention of a person having committed a crime, justifiable risk, and the execution of an order or instruction;

i) unlawfulness or immorality of the behavior of a given victim which served as a an incentive for a given crime;

 

j) sincere repentance, confessing to the police and pleading guilty, active contributing to the disclosure of a crime, exposing other participants in a crime, and search for property acquired as its result.

 

2. When establishing punishment, circumstances which are not indicated in the first part of this Article may also be taken into consideration as mitigating factors.

 

3. If a mitigating circumstance is stipulated by the relevant article of the Special Part of the present Code as an attribute of a crime, it may not be in itself repeatedly taken into consideration when establishing punishment.

 

4. When there are the mitigating circumstances as specified in paragraphs e) j) of the first part of this Article and there are not aggravating circumstances, the period or scale of the punishment in the case of commission of a crime of lesser or medium gravity may not exceed a half, in the case of commission of a grave crime two thirds, in the commission of a specially grave crime three fourths of the maximum term or scale of the most severe type of punishment as specified in the relevant Article of the Special Part of this Code.