BOOK II
SPECIAL PART

TITLE V
CRIMES OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

Article 278. Perjury or providing false information

1. Any person who is called to depose as party to a legal proceeding, and provides false information regarding acts on which he or she is to depose, after having taken an oath and having been warned of the criminal consequences arising from such an act, is punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine.

2. The same penalty shall apply to suspects or defendants regarding statements on their identity and criminal record.

3. If any person is deprived of liberty as a consequence of the perpetrator committing any of the acts described above, the same is punishable with 2 to 8 years imprisonment.

Article 279. Bearing false witness, providing false expert opinion, interpretation or translation

1. Any person who, acting as a witness, expert, technician, translator or interpreter before a court or competent official that is to receive any statement, report, information or translation as evidence, and provides a false statement, reports, information or translation, is punishable with up to 4 years imprisonment or a fine.

2. The same penalty shall apply to any person who, without just cause, refuses to make a statement, present a report, information or translation.

3. If the perpetrator commits the act referred to in subarticle 1 after having taken an oath and having been warned of the criminal consequences arising from such an act, the penalty is up to 5 years imprisonment.

4. If any person is deprived of liberty as a consequence of the perpetrator committing any of the acts described above, the same is punishable with 2 to 8 years imprisonment.

Article 280. Equivalence to desistance

Repentance or retraction on the part of the perpetrator who has committed any of the acts described in the preceding article before the effects of the falsity have been considered in the ruling or caused loss to another person, is equivalent to desistance.

Article 281. Bribery

1. Any person who persuades or attempts to persuade another person by means of a gift or promise of material or other gain to practice any of the acts referred to in articles 278 or 279 is punishable with up to 4 years imprisonment or a fine, if such an act is committed.

2. Whenever the acts referred to in articles 278 and 279 do not actually occur, the perpetrator is punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine.

Article 282. Denial of justice

1. Any official who, within the scope of a procedural inquiry or court proceeding regarding a disciplinary matter or contravention, wilfully decides or fails to decide, promotes or fails to promote, investigates or fails to investigate, or to practice any act in performance of his or her duties, that is against justice, is punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine.

2. If the act described in the preceding subarticle is committed with intent to cause harm or benefit to any person, said official is punishable with up to 5 years imprisonment.

3. If the conduct described in the preceding subarticles results in deprivation of liberty of a person, the penalty is 2 to 8 years imprisonment.

4. If the conduct described above is committed with gross negligence, the minimum and maximum limits penalties are reduced by half.

Article 283. Coercion against a magistrate

1. Any person who, by means of violence, threat to cause serious harm, or by any other means, acts in such a manner as to prevent a judge or public prosecutor from freely performing his or her duties, is punishable with 1 to 4 years imprisonment.

2. If the perpetrator commits the act by taking advantage of holding a political, public, military or law enforcement office, the penalty is 2 to 8 years imprisonment.

3. If, as a consequence of any conduct described in the previous subarticles, the magistrate commits any omission or act in blatant violation of the law resulting in harm to any third party, the penalty is 3 to 10 years imprisonment.

Article 284. Obstruction of a judicial act
1. Any person who, by any means, opposes, renders difficult or hinders execution or enforcement of any final decision issued by a court of law, is punishable with 2 to 5 years imprisonment.
2. If the perpetrator who has committed any act described above holds a political, public or military office, and, due to the nature of the office, he or she should refrain from committing such acts, the same shall be punishable with 2 to 8 years imprisonment.

Article 285. Defamatory false information

1. Any person who, by any means, before authorities or publicly, and aware of the falsity of the accusation, informs or casts suspicion on a certain person regarding commission of a crime, with the intent of having criminal proceedings initiated against said person, is punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine.

2. Whenever the false accusation refers to an unlawful act of an administrative or disciplinary nature, the penalty shall be extraordinarily mitigated.

3. Whenever any of the acts described above are intentionally promoted by an official charged with initiating said proceeding, the maximum limit of the applicable penalty shall be increased by one third.

Article 286. Failure to report

Any person who, being aware of the commission of a public crime, and having the obligation to report it, fails to do so, is punishable with the penalty that corresponds to said unreported crime with its minimum and maximum limits decreased by two thirds.

Article 287. Malfeasance by a magistrate or official

1. Any judge, public prosecutor or official who, at any stage of a court proceeding, and with intent to benefit or cause harm to any other person, wilfully and unlawfully performs an act within the scope of the official powers invested in the same or fails to do so, being required to perform it, is punishable with 2 to 6 years' imprisonment.

2. If any of the acts described above result in deprivation of liberty of any person or cause a situation of unlawful arrest or detention, the penalty is 3 to 10 years imprisonment.

Article 288. Malfeasance by an attorney or public defender

1. Any attorney or public defender who intentionally compromises a case entrusted to him or her is punishable with 1 to 4 years imprisonment.

2. Any attorney or public defender who, in said case, serves as a defender or counsel to parties in a dispute, with intent to act for the benefit or detriment of any of the same, is punishable with 2 to 6 years imprisonment.

Article 289. Crime simulation

1. Any person who, without accusing a particular person of a crime, either informs competent authorities or raises suspicion that a crime has been committed, while knowing that it has not, is punishable with up to 2 years imprisonment or a fine.

2. If the act refers to an infringement or unlawful act of an administrative or disciplinary nature, the perpetrator is punishable with up to 1 year imprisonment or a fine.

3. If any of the acts described in the previous subarticles is committed by an official charged with initiating the respective proceeding, the minimum and maximum limits of the applicable penalty shall be increased by one third.

Article 290. Assisting a criminal

1. Any person who, wholly or partially hinders, frustrates or misleads investigative or preventative action by competent authorities with knowledge or intent to avert enforcement of a penalty or security measure upon a person who has committed a crime, is punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine.

2. The attempt is punishable.

3. If said assistance is provided by an official involved or with power of involvement in the case or responsible for executing said penalty or security measure, or to order execution thereof, the same is punishable with 2 to 5 years imprisonment.

4. The commission of the crimes described in subarticle 1 shall not be punishable whenever :

a) In committing the act, the perpetrator seeks simultaneously to avoid enforcement of a penalty or security measure on him or herself ;
b) The perpetrator is a spouse, descendent, parent, has adopted or been adopted by, relative or similar to up to the second degree of the person for whom the act was committed or with whom the perpetrator lives in a situation analogous to that of spouse.

Article 291. Violation of judicial confidentiality

1. Any person who, in violation of a legal order and without just cause, discloses contents of a criminal proceeding protected by confidentiality or where a decision has been issued to forbid disclosure, is punishable with 1 to 4 years imprisonment.

2. If the violation is committed through any media service, the penalty is 2 to 6 years imprisonment.