Criminal responsibility may be invoked for such offences as intentional bodily injury, murder, threatening to commit murder or to inflict serious bodily injury, rape and others.
Domestic violence & Crimes
Domestic violence is not defined as a specific or separate crime in the Criminal Code, yet the perpetrator may be held criminally responsible if the acts committed correspond to a crime defined in the Criminal Code. Those are, for example, murder, bodily injuries (severe, moderate or minor injuries), the threat to kill or cause severe bodily injury, illegal restraint, rape, sexual assault, torture and others.
Aggravated circumstance
However, the Criminal Code recognizes domestic violence as an aggravated circumstance. It means that it is considered as an aggravated circumstance if the criminal offense related to violence or threats of violence, against morality and sexual inviolability is committed against a relative. A relative is a person to whom the perpetrator is a relative to the first or second degree, a spouse or a former spouse, a person with whom the perpetrator is or has been in an unregistered marital relationship, or a person with whom the perpetrator has a joint (single) household.
Therefore, if the violent act (for example, bodily injury or sexual violence) is committed against a relative or an intimate partner, the perpetrator will be held responsible for the specific act, which, in addition, has been committed in aggravated circumstances. Such a conviction provides for a more serious sentence. Thus, the Criminal Code recognizes domestic violence as a more severe act of violence compared to a single or isolated act of violence against a person who is not in a relationship with the perpetrator.
Crimes against children
The Criminal Code also provides a specific provision to prevent cruelty and violence against children, recognizing cruel or violent treatment of a minor as a crime, if physical or mental suffering has been inflicted upon the minor, and if such acts have been inflicted by a person on whom the victim is financially or otherwise dependent. Therefore, domestic violence against a child is considered a crime, even if it has not caused a certain level of bodily harm.