Distinguishing an accomplice who removes obstacles to committing a crime from a co-executor

The article researches the practice of delimiting an accomplice from a co-executor. In cases where an accomplice intellectually or physically assists in the commission of a crime in the future or promises to provide such assistance after its completion, problems with the qualifications of his actions, as a rule, do not arise. A particular difficulty represents the legal assessment of the elimination of obstacles by the accomplice of the encroachment by the “main” performer. The author sets himself the goal of a scientifically grounded definition of the type of accomplice in a crime, which contributes to its commission by eliminating obstacles in the process of fulfilling the objective side. To achieve this goal, the normative and formal legal approaches were used, the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the doctrinal provisions of the criminal were studied were studied. In the article, the author reasonably proposes that a person who removes obstacles to the implementation of the method of crime during the execution of its objective side be recognized as a co-executor. When deciding on the content of the objective side, one should issue not only from the abstract features of the corresponding composition, but also take into account the specific method of the actually committed encroachment. It is proposed to clarify in the legislative definition of an accomplice that a person who contributed to the commission of a crime by eliminating obstacles is recognized as an accomplice only if such elimination was carried out at the stage of preparation for the crime.