Prohibition of War Propaganda in International and Russian Law
Dzeitova R.B. Prohibition of war propaganda in international and Russian law. Penitentiary Science, 2023, vol. 17, no. 3 (63), pp. 265–272. doi10.46741/2686-9764.2023.63.3.004.
Introduction: the article examines the content of the international prohibition of propaganda for war, the procedure for fixing the prohibition in Russian law, as well as the imperfection of criminal legislation, including liability for public calls to unleash a war of aggression. Purpose: to analyze history of the formation of the international prohibition of war propaganda and its content, compare it with the regulation of this prohibition in Russian law, especially in criminal legislation, and suggest ways to improve the latter. Methods: historical and systematic methods, as well as comparative legal and formal legal methods, were used to solve the tasks. Results: the article shows the work of international conferences on the unification of criminal law, launched in the first half of the 20th century, and the activity of the League of Nations that adopted an important international document in the field of prohibition of propaganda for war in peacetime in 1936, namely, the International Convention Concerning the Use of Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace. After the establishment of the United Nations, the prohibition of war propaganda was finally fixed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, developed by the Human Rights Committee. The analysis of Russian legislation shows that such a prohibition is contained in various branches of law, for example, in constitutional law. Moreover, Article 354 of the Criminal Code contains crime elements of public calls for unleashing a war of aggression. Conclusion: despite this prohibition is present in various branches of Russian law, we have identified the imperfection of this criminal law ban. The domestic legislator has formulated crime elements of public calls for unleashing a war of aggression too narrowly; the author of the article suggests ways to eliminate this shortcoming through additional criminalization of propaganda for aggression against states.
Keywords: a war of aggression; propaganda for war; propaganda for aggression; public calls; unleashing a war of aggression; criminal liability; crime elements.
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