Religious security of the Russian federation: the impact of amendments in the criminal and criminal procedure legislation in 2012-2013

About the authors:

Ivan A. Tarasevich, Cand. Sci. (Jur.), Associate Professor, Lecturer, Research Associate, University of Tyumen (2005-2018); Cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church; ioann@ruweb.net

Dmitry A. Kirillov, Cand. Sci. (Jur.), Associate Professor, Department of Civil Law and Procedure, University of Tyumen; eLibrary AuthorID, kdakda@yandex.ru

Abstract:

In 2012-2013 amendments, concerning religious issues were made in the system of Criminal Law and the Law of Criminal Procedure. The amendments can be conventionally divided into two groups. The first group is aimed at the search of the new ways of the legal regulation in the sphere of religious security. These amendments refer to article 148 of the RF Criminal Code. The second group of amendments is connected with the legal regulation in other social spheres. However, these amendments have influenced the system of religious security norms. Such amendments were made in article 239 of the RF Criminal Code and article 151 of the RF Code of Criminal Procedure. However, both groups of amendments contain substantial drawbacks. Criminalization of a deed "public actions, expressing obvious disrespect to the society and committed to insult the religious feelings of the church people" (para 1 article 148 RF Criminal Code), is fallacious. After article 239 of the Criminal Code was amended to counteract the activity of foreign agents, many dangerous actions of religious groups were wrongly decriminalized. The analysis of article 151 of the RF Code of Criminal Procedure proves that at present nobody deals with the issue of counteraction to religious groups persistently. The authors suggest that the norms concerning the criminal responsibility for the illegal religious activity should be arranged into a separate article in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, thus the amendments in the Criminal Procedure legislation should be made. The wording of the amendments is given in the article.

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