Baranta

(Turkic, baranta—bandit raid), in criminal law, a form of crime consisting of the unauthorized seizure of livestock or some other property with the sole purpose of forcing the owner of the property or his relatives to give satisfaction for a wrong previously suffered by the guilty party or to reimburse him for property damage.

Baranta was widespread primarily among the nomadic peoples of the outlying regions of tsarist Russia. Under Soviet power this type of crime has seldom been encountered, although the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1926 and the Criminal Code of the Uzbek SSR listed it among the crimes that were vestiges of local customs. The criminal codes of union republics in force today do not mention baranta. Acts similar to baranta can be covered in corresponding cases as other forms of crime (taking the law into one’s own hands, extortion, and others).