State substitution

The government proposed rewriting Articles 275 and 276 of the Criminal Code on the state treason and espionage - and on September 21, the Duma adopted in the first reading the bill introduced back in 2008. Government initiatives are rarely laid down in the Duma for so long. But this one turned out to be so odious that it was even to slow down the healthy forces, sometimes even acting as deputies of United Russia.

And now the bill is approved unanimously, his hour came. But will the deputies be able to explain why they voted? In any case, the members of the Duma committee on criminal law, as can be seen from their conclusion to the bill, did not have enough understanding: even to retell in their own words that, in fact, they could not. But they recommended the project for adoption.

The author of this comment without false modesty believes that over many years of work, he has learned to read and understand laws. And this bill is small - a couple of pages. But I had to deal with him all day. First, we suffered over the text together with our lawyer, then a broken hour with the director of the institute. We read a project on syllables, and from right to left, and between the lines. But he is not about beekeeping - under an article on state treason, they give from 12 to 20 years. Any change in this norm and even more so the expansion of the sphere of action requires special caution, as when working with poison. The Duma drags the poison buckets. So recently a lifelong opinion appeared for the smuggling of drugs, under which adolescents and idiots are falling, ordering a gram of smoking mixtures on the Internet, supposedly legal.

In the explanatory note to the project, developers write mainly about the addition of international organizations to foreign organizations, which are also proposed to be considered as organizing espionage and other sabotage. In this, as well as in the attribution of the state -owned consultation and other assistance to the “enemy”, commentators see the political danger of the bill.

In my opinion, the essence of the amendments is not that it will now be possible to change the state not only with a foreign, but also with an international organization. And not so terribly demonstrative enumeration of types of assistance, the provision of which is attributed to state treason. For all of the above (financial, material, technical, consulting assistance), you can attract now. All this is covered, according to the current version of Article 275, the formulation of other assistance , which includes the same consultations, synchronous translation, etc. etc., up to transport, restaurant and, if you like, sexual services.

The main one is: an article aimed at protecting against external threats, a defensive article is turned into an article by a police officer.

In 2010, under Article 275 of the Criminal Code, five people were convicted, under article 276 - one; In 2011 to the 275th-six, in the 276th-one. I do not know these cases. But I see how the authors complain in the explanatory note to the bill that "in the current editorial execution" state treason "is extremely difficult to proof." Therefore, the main question: will there be more cases for these articles if they change as it is proposed in the bill?

What security will Article 275 of the Criminal Code defend? We will focus on it (Article 276 seduce it in relation to foreign citizens, so on the other in the bill tolerantly). How does the new option differ from the current version?

Today , spying, the issuance of state secrets or other assistance to a foreign state, foreign organization or their representatives in conducting hostile activities to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation , committed by a citizen of the Russian Federation, is recognized as state.

This is a difficult, politically and historically burdened article. And by virtue of this memory, the authors of the 1996 Criminal Code limited its disposition by external security. Although our Criminal Code is not perfect, nevertheless, his jurists wrote.

Nowadays, other authors, lawyers from the FSB who composed the government bill, offer to consider treason the act committed by a citizen of the Russian Federation to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation : espionage, issuing a foreign state, an international or foreign organization or their representatives of information constituting a state secret, a trusted person or who has become known to him, work or study, or the provision of financial, logical and technical, consulting, consulting, consultation or other assistance to a foreign state, international or foreign organization or their representatives in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation, including its constitutional system, sovereignty, territorial and state integrity.

In my own words I will highlight the main thing: according to the current Criminal Code, the activities listed in Article 275 are recognized as a treason if it is carried out to the detriment of the external security of the Russian Federation. The project is about the security of the Russian Federation in general, that is, not only about external security, but also about the internal attempts that are not related to it.

What is "external security"? In the Federal Law "On Security" there is no such concept. But in other legal acts, including in the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Decree of the President, “external security” is present. The Constitutional Court (Resolution of July 31, 1995) considers it as protection against military aggression. And in the comments on the Criminal Code, external security as an object of crime is characterized by a state of protection of sovereignty, territorial integrity and defense capacity of the country from external hostile influence (edited by A.I. Chuchaev - M., 2011; as amicated by A.I. Rarog - M., 2011).

What is the "security of the Russian Federation"? There is no this concept in the law "On Security" either (such is the consistency and systematic legislation of the Russian Federation). Article 1 of this Law "Security" is revealed as state security, public security, environmental safety, personality security, and other types of security. It can be concluded that their amount is "security of the Russian Federation." And this, if you look into the national security strategy of the Russian Federation, and food, and economic, and information security.

Since Article 275 of the Criminal Code talks about the "security of the Russian Federation", it will now be punished for encroachments on both external and internal safety. At the same time, it is not at all necessary that punishable citizens of the Russian Federation themselves are engaged in subversive activities. It is enough that a foreign or international organization or any state will be convicted of this, which were not encroaching on territorial integrity, not on the sovereignty of Russia, as follows from Article 275 today, but, for example, for a certain spiritual security. The assistance of such an organization or such a state that decomposes influence is, according to this bill, state treason.

In this form, the repressiveness of Article 275 increases many times. Under it it will be possible to bring an act, punished almost under any article of the Criminal Code. After all, almost the entire special part of the Code protects internal safety: personality safety (section 7 - “crimes against the person”), economic security (section 8 - “crimes in the economy”), public security (section 9 - “crimes against public security and public order”), state security (section 10 - “crimes against state power”). All these crimes, in the presence of a tunnel from Moscow to London, turn into treason.

Take at least Pussy Riot. It would be enough the court to accept the version of Mamontov about Berezovsky as a customer of Punk-Molebna in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in order to turn hooliganism (up to 7 years in prison) into state treason (up to 20 years).

The bill has been adopted so far in the first reading. I would like to believe that the Duma Committee on Legislation will still figure out what is written there. "External safety" should be urgently returned to the place.