Khmeleva Alla Vladimirovna,

Head of Criminal Science Department of the Academy of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Candidate

of Legal Sciences, colonel of justice. Address: 12 ul. Vrubelya, 125080 Moscow Tel. 8(965)313-26-71. E-mail: hmeleva.alla@mail.ru

137—140

343.611

This article aggregates investigative practice to provide the criminalistic characteristics of assassinations. In the course of such aggregation the case papers of 46 cases pertaining to this crime category and committed on the territory of Russia for the past 10 years have been analyzed. The author describes the elements of criminalistic characteristic of assassinations: place, time, manner, crime instrument, motive of a crime, characteristics of masterminds behind the crime, actual perpetrator of the crime, those who assist in committing the crime and victims of the crime, indicating the changes that those elements have undergone recently. The author also gives real-world examples taken from the investigating authorities’ practice.

assassination, contract murder, mastermind, mediator, perpetrator, victim, motive, manner of murder.