In Russia, the heirs of a deceased convict are obliged to compensate the victims if he did not compensate them during his lifetime.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has made a decision according to which property obligations are transferred to heirs regardless of the fact that the damage was caused as part of a criminal offense.
The precedent was the case of the head of a village and the director of a road company from the Novgorod region, who were convicted of embezzlement, RIA Novosti reports.
The funds allocated for road repairs were used for other purposes.
Later, one of the convicts died before paying off his share of the damage. The prosecutor's office managed to recover the amount from his wife, who inherited her husband's property.
The Supreme Court ruled that the obligation to pay damages remains in effect because the obligation is inherited.
The heirs, when accepting the property, also take on the debts of the deceased, including the obligation to compensate for the damage caused.
