Article 148 CP: Aggravated Bodily Harm · Weapons and Treachery (2026)

The article 148 of the Criminal Code regulates aggravated bodily harm: the subtype that turns an injury under art. 147.1 CP — punished on a basic level with imprisonment of 3 months to 3 years or a fine — into an offence carrying imprisonment of 2 to 5 years. As criminal defence lawyers specialising in bodily harm offences, we explain when it applies, why it is a discretionary aggravation, and how it is defended.

What Art. 148 CP Says

The provision states that the injuries covered by section 1 of the preceding article may be punished with imprisonment of two to five years, «taking into account the resulting harm or the risk created», when one of the circumstances it lists is present. Two ideas are already contained in that sentence: the penalty rises to imprisonment, but the aggravation is not mandatory — it applies according to the actual dangerousness of the act.

The Five Circumstances that Aggravate Bodily Harm

1. 1st — Dangerous means: if the attack involves weapons, instruments, objects, means, methods, or forms that are specifically dangerous to the life or physical or mental health of the injured person. This is the most common circumstance: a knife, a broken bottle, or a blunt object.
2. 2nd — Cruelty or treachery: if there is cruelty (deliberately and inhumanly increasing the pain) or treachery (ensuring the act is carried out without risk to the perpetrator, by attacking by surprise or a person who cannot defend themselves).
3. 3rd — Victim specially protected because of their status: if the victim is under fourteen years of age or a person with a disability in need of special protection.
4. 4th — Partner relationship: if the victim is or has been the perpetrator's wife, or a woman linked to the perpetrator by a similarly affectionate relationship, even without cohabitation. This is the route for gender violence when the assault causes an injury under art. 147.1.
5. 5th — Vulnerable person living with the perpetrator: if the victim is a specially vulnerable person who lives with the perpetrator.

Only Injuries under Art. 147.1 Can Be Aggravated

This is the decisive filter, and where many cases are won. Art. 148 CP expressly refers to «the injuries covered by section 1 of the preceding article». It can therefore only aggravate an injury under art. 147.1 — one that required, beyond initial medical attention, medical or surgical treatment. It cannot be applied to the minor injury under art. 147.2 (a fine) or to the physical assault without injury under art. 147.3. If the defence manages to downgrade the injury to art. 147.2 by challenging the forensic report, art. 148 disappears entirely, taking the prison sentence with it, and the act is left as a minor offence punished with a fine. We analyse that boundary in the guide to article 147 CP and the offence of bodily harm.

A Discretionary Aggravation, Not an Automatic One

The wording «may be punished [...] taking into account the resulting harm or risk created» makes art. 148 a discretionary offence. It is not enough to establish that a weapon was used or that the victim was the partner: the court must assess the actual dangerousness of the means or circumstance and give reasons for raising the penalty rather than remaining within the basic offence under art. 147.1. Case law insists that the dangerous-instrument subtype is not applied mechanically, as we develop in this analysis on the discretionary nature of art. 148.1 CP. That requirement to give reasons is a first-rate line of defence.

Relationship with Arts. 149 and 150 (Very Serious Injuries)

Art. 148 aggravates according to the way the injury is caused or the victim's status. When what is aggravated is the outcome — the loss of an organ or a sense, disfigurement — autonomous offences carrying a higher penalty apply:

• Art. 149 CP: imprisonment of 6 to 12 years for the loss of a principal organ or limb, of a sense, impotence, sterility, serious disfigurement, or a serious somatic or psychological illness.
• Art. 150 CP: imprisonment of 3 to 6 years for the loss of a non-principal limb or for disfigurement.

These outcome-based offences displace art. 148: they are not added together — whichever corresponds to the severity of the after-effect applies.

Defence Strategies

1. Downgrading the injury to art. 147.2. Challenging whether there was genuine medical treatment takes the act out of art. 147.1 and, with it, out of art. 148: the case moves from imprisonment to a fine.
2. Denying the actual dangerousness of the means. Art. 148.1 requires that the weapon or object was specifically dangerous to life or health in that particular case; its mere existence is not enough.
3. Challenging the discretionary application. Requiring the court to give reasons for the aggravation and arguing that, given the actual outcome and risk, the basic offence under art. 147.1 should apply.
4. Disputing treachery or cruelty. These are circumstances that require rigorous proof of the surprise, the defencelessness, or the deliberately increased pain.
5. Self-defence. If the injury was caused while repelling an attack, the defence under art. 20.4 CP applies, excluding criminal liability — we cover this in the guide on the requirements for self-defence.
6. Making good the harm. Compensating the victim before trial activates the mitigating circumstance under art. 21.5 CP and facilitates a more favourable plea agreement.

And from the opposite position: if you have been the victim of an assault involving a weapon or within a partner relationship, private prosecution allows the act to be correctly classified as aggravated bodily harm under art. 148 CP and prevents it from being wrongly downgraded.