Criminal Responsibility for Terrorism

Review. The paper considers legal foundations of fight against threats of use of nuclear and biological weapon in Russia and abroad. It also analyses the content of international legal acts in this sphere (The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (1979); The Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005); The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (1971)). The author examines the peculiarities of imposing criminal responsibility for such wrong-doings in accordance with The Criminal Code of the RF. The author concludes that it is necessary to clarify terminology (inter alia, with regard to the definitions of nuclear and biological terrorism, as well as their interrelation with technological terrorism), and gives his own definitions of the concepts. The author suggests that it is necessary to include into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation an independent corpus delicti that concerns nuclear threat on behalf of terrorists, and to amend the rule of Article 355 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (to supplement the disposition of the Article with a direct reference to nuclear weapon). The paper also provides an analysis of legal foundations of fight against terrorism on transport. The author examines international law regulations (in particular, The Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (1963); The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (1971); The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation (2010), etc). The author draws the conclusion concerning sufficient prevalence of terrorism on transport in Russia, and provides statistical data with regard to the issue of the attitude of the population of the country to this threat. He also justifies the necessity to set forth the concept of "terrorism on transport" in legislation. The author states reasons for increasing criminal responsibility for committing an act of terrorism combined with encroachment on facilities of transport infrastructure (by means of referring this act to the category of aggravated crimes - Part 3 Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

criminal legislation, international acts, threat to humanity, fight against terrorism, act of terrorism, nuclear terrorism, biological terrorism, terrorism on transport

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