Chapter 4 – Grounds for exemption from liability

Section 6 – Use of forcible measures

(1) Separate provisions in an Act apply to the right to use forcible measures in the performance of official functions or for another comparable reason and to the right to assist persons appointed to maintain order.

(2) In the use of forcible measures, recourse may be had only to such measures necessary to perform the function and that can be deemed justifiable when assessed as a whole, taking into account the importance and urgent nature of the task, the dangerousness of the resistance and the situation also otherwise.

(3) If the limits provided in subsection 2 have been exceeded in the use of forcible measures, the perpetrator is nonetheless free of criminal liability if there are very weighty grounds to deem that the perpetrator could not reasonably have been expected to have acted otherwise, taking into account his or her position and training, the importance of the function and the unexpected nature of the situation.

Section 7 – Mitigation of penal liability

Even if the perpetrator is not fully exempted from penal liability pursuant to the grounds provided in this chapter, the circumstances may nonetheless be taken into account as mitigation of the penal liability in accordance with what is provided in chapter 6, section 8, subsection 1(4), subsection 2 and subsection 4.