The liability for bringing a knowingly innocent person to criminal justice or for illegal initiating a criminal proceeding

The article considers in detail the criminal-legal characteristics of the corpus delicti provided for by Article 299 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The analysis of research papers devoted to the issues of bringing an obviously innocent person to criminal responsibility or illegal initiation of the criminal proceedings, as well as the study of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and judicial practice in specific criminal cases made it possible to reveal a number of problems encountered in the qualification of the crime under consideration. The author comes to the conclusion that problems of qualification are complicated by not quite successful formulation of the objective side of the crime given by the legislator. The conducted research gives a certain idea of the development of the norm, reveals some aspects of the legislation aimed at combating crimes against justice, including those committed by law enforcement officials. Practical recommendations on the qualification of bringing an obviously innocent person to criminal responsibility or illegal initiation of a criminal case are given to the law enforcement officer.