арест vs лишение свободы

14:08 Apr 15, 2010 

I'm afraid the other answers got tangled up in the more normal meaning of pre-trial arrest, so nobody got any points.

14:30 Apr 14, 2010 

Oops... My previous suggestion still doesn't cut it for the context.
либо ***арестом*** на срок от трех до шести месяцев, либо ***лишением свободы*** на срок до четырех лет.
The only way I see it now ***арестом*** - arrest, ***лишением свободы*** - imprisonment. As in many other instances, these terms will not clearly reflect the Russian reality to the English speaking reader, if he wills though, he can seek for more information, e.g. look up the definitions in the Criminal Code of RF.

14:21 Apr 14, 2010 

Thanks to Maria Fokin for the reference http://ukrf.narod.ru/

Section 54 throws light on definition of arrest; it is clear from this section that Russian Criminal Code defines arrest as another kind of punishment by imprisonment. The only material difference from imprisonment as defined in Section 56 seems to be the time of the punishment - arrest implies confinement for up to 6 months.
Bottom line: in this context I would translate "арест и лишение свободы" as Imrisonment for various terms.

12:16 Apr 14, 2010 

there is nothing wrong with the terminology
according to УК РФ deprivation of liberty does not refer to compulsory works or corrective labour but to imprisonment.
for more information refer here:
http://ukrf.narod.ru/
Уголовный Кодекс РФ
Глава 9. Понятие и цели наказания. Виды наказаний.

Видами наказаний являются:
а) штраф;
б) лишение права занимать определенные должности или заниматься определенной деятельностью;
в) лишение специального, воинского или почетного звания, классного чина и государственных наград;
г) обязательные работы;
д) исправительные работы;
е) ограничение по военной службе;
ж) конфискация имущества;
з) ограничение свободы;
и) арест;
к) содержание в дисциплинарной воинской части;
л) лишение свободы на определенный срок;
м) пожизненное лишение свободы;
н) смертная казнь.

11:04 Apr 14, 2010 

need more explanation.
Arrest is a kind of punishment under which the convict is kept in tougher conditions for a shorter term than in the case of deprivation of liberty which is also a kind of punishment with a longer term (as a rule) though looser conditions.
Arrest is defined in art. 54, D.of L., in art. 56 of the R.F. Criminal Code (УК).

To avoid making our life too easy, in Russian legal language they also call "arrest" a kind of pre-trial custody of the suspect (officially, "placing under guard" заключение под стражу, art. 105 Criminal Procedure Code - УПК). It follows a detention (задержание -- art 91 CCC/УПК) if enough evidence has been collected for charging the suspect with a qualified crime. The suspect is kept in tough conditions but the legal nature of this arrest is different from the legal nature of the punishment arrest. Hence some confusion in our comments.

Most recently they introduced a new option -- home arrest (art. 107 CCC, домашний арест), which is also a pre-trial measure.

23:15 Apr 13, 2010 

A person is arrested (арестовывается) by enforcement, and then may be detained and finally deprived of liberty (лишен свободы).
Свободы лишают по приговору суда; I.e. someone can be sentenced to лишению свободы (deprivation of liberty)
Canadian criminal code uses term Imprisonment where Russian Code uses Deprivation of Liberty, but I wouldn't translate Russian лишение свободы as Imprisonment, because Russian лишение свободы is a wider term (e.g. a person can be deprived of liberty and sent to work at a labour camp, "зона", which is not quite a prison (тюрьма).
Now, having said that, why the context uses "арест"? Beats me.
What document is that? What country? I doubt it is Russia. Does that document have Definitions? Doesn't look like Russian Criminal Code terminology...

15:01 Apr 13, 2010 

по российскому уголовному праву (ст. 54 УК РФ) один из видов наказания (назначаемое только как основное); содержание осужденного в условиях строгой изоляции от общества на срок от одного до шести месяцев. В случае замены обязательных работ или исправительных работ А. он может быть назначен на срок менее одного месяца. Военнослужащие отбывают А. на гауптвахте;
http://www.jur-words.info/?subaction=showfull&id=0000000322&...

14:55 Apr 13, 2010 

I have always believed that in such a context these are just synonyms. I am not a specialist though.