Russians were warned about punishment for a cigarette butt thrown out of an apartment window

A cigarette butt thrown out of an apartment window can result in a fine and even a criminal case for Russians. Lawyer Alexander Zorin told about this on Tuesday, May 12.

According to the expert, there is no direct legal ban on smoking on the balcony or dumping cigarette butts from the window in federal legislation, but this does not exclude responsibility for what has been done.

Responsibility for a cigarette butt thrown into the street is fixed by three federal laws: "On Environmental Protection", "On Production and consumption Waste" and "On the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population".

"Failure to comply with these requirements constitutes an administrative offense under Part 1 of Article 8.2 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, the sanction of which entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of two to three thousand rubles on citizens. If this offense is repeated within a year, the fine for citizens increases to five thousand rubles," Zorin warned in an interview with The Paragraph.

If the discarded cigarette butt provoked a fire, the fine will increase many times, from 40 to 50 thousand rubles. If there were no specified consequences, the fine amount will be from five to 15 thousand rubles. In the event that people died as a result of the cigarette butt falling, the culprit will face criminal liability of up to two years in prison, the lawyer warned.

Smoke without rules: how to stop neighbors from smoking and not go to lynching

It is possible to deal with violators only by legal methods.

Ilya Vasilchuk, a judicial lawyer, an expert on the security of electronic transactions and real estate transactions, and a public figure, said on April 13 that smoking on a balcony is not directly prohibited in Russia, but in some cases it may entail administrative liability or legal disputes with neighbors. According to him, responsibility depends on the specific circumstances and consequences for others. One of the grounds for a fine may be a violation of fire safety regulations.

Dmitry Bondar, a public figure and housing and communal services expert, told Izvestia on April 14 that changes to the facade of an apartment building, including the installation of dryers or other structures, require the consent of the majority of owners and may entail liability in their absence.

Lawyer Alexander Khaminsky said on April 28 that in order to install a camera on the facade of an apartment building overlooking the courtyard, neighbors' consent is required. 360.ru .

In turn, Ruben Hovsepyan, an assistant at the Popov Department of Administrative Law and Procedure at Kutafin Moscow State Law University, told the Moscow City News Agency that a fine of up to 15,000 rubles is provided for lighting an open fire and cooking barbecue on the balcony of an apartment building.