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Somehow it happened that half of our class was in the city of my youth that day. Many haven’t seen each other since graduation. Naturally, such a thing should be noted. I didn’t want to go to a restaurant or cafe, the weather was too good outside.
At first we wanted to take a few bottles of champagne and just sit on a bench in the park, however, one of ours managed to learn to be a lawyer and said that you can get a fine for such a pastime.
What is the legal liability for drinking in the wrong place
Then the conversation turned for a while to a discussion of the topic of drinking alcohol in public places. Still, directly or indirectly, this matter concerns each of us.
The focus of attention was, of course, our classmate, a lawyer. He patiently answered all of our questions.
It turned out that according to Art. 20.20 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO), if they still decided to drink champagne in the park, as, indeed, in any other public place, and this would be noticed by law enforcement officers, we would be given a fine.
The truth is not very big – 500-1000 rubles. However, money, as they say, is not superfluous.
Note! As a punishment for drinking alcohol in public places, only monetary penalties are provided, however, in case of debauchery after drinking alcohol in public, a person can be arrested for up to 15 days.
List of prohibited places for drinking alcohol
The conversation continued. It became interesting to us, but where, in fact, besides parks, you can’t drink alcohol and in general, what, from a legal point of view, is called a public place?
A classmate also calmly answered these questions. Apparently, this was far from the first time for him.
He started with the latter. Public space, he said, is a very broad concept. Parks, streets, sports grounds, everything is clear here, but it turns out that in some cases even the most remote corner of the forest can be recognized as a public place.
Note! Theoretically, a person can be fined for drinking alcohol in the wrong place somewhere on the coast of the Bering Sea, when the nearest settlement is several hundred kilometers, or even more.
Well, these are all legal subtleties. Saying these words, our classmate somehow smiled slyly and continued on in a more businesslike tone.
According to Federal Law No. 171, alcoholic beverages are prohibited from being consumed in:
- buildings of public organizations (medical institutions, libraries, etc.);
- retail outlets;
- public transport;
- stations;
- sports grounds;
- other public places.
And again, we are faced with the broad concept of “public place”, which everyone interprets to the extent of their depravity, well, or legal knowledge.
Is it possible to drink alcohol in a paper bag or non-alcoholic beer
This question was asked by the former ringleader of our class. Even now he looked like a cowboy, but what happened in his school years … Well, that’s not the point.
Everything here turned out to be really simple. If the policeman fails to determine that a person is using alcohol in a paper bag (which I believe is extremely rare), then he has no right to hold the offender accountable.
In most cases, law enforcement officers will simply ask the person to remove the bottle from the bag, after which they will draw up a protocol according to the standard scheme.
Note! Non-alcoholic beer cannot be considered an alcoholic beverage, so it can be drunk anywhere.
How to determine the border where you can drink and where not
Here I intervened in the conversation and asked a question that had long interested me. Okay, so let’s say I’m drinking beer in a bar and went out to smoke on the street, not letting go of the glass from my hands. Can I be fined?
According to a classmate, it all depends on the case. If I went beyond the territory of the bar – goodbye 500 rubles.
However, often bars and cafes own verandas. You can drink alcohol there. In short, it’s better not to go outside the drinking establishment with alcohol, you can run into a fine.
In general, after half an hour, I realized that, according to the law, alcoholic beverages can only be drunk at home and in bars, where we, in fact, went with our whole large company. What would you do in our place?