The meaning of the aim to destabilize the activity of official authorities in qualifying a knowingly false report about an act of terrorism

Abstract

Introduction. The relevance of the study is to consider the issue of qualifying deliberately false reports about an impending explosion, arson or other actions that create a danger of death, causing significant property damage or other socially dangerous consequences in order to destabilize the activities of government bodies, the number of which has increased exponentially in recent years, and influence of the current version of Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to increase general prevention in relation to this crime. Materials and methods. The study analyzes scientific literature and judicial practice that has developed with the use of the new edition of Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, starting from 2018. Analysis. The article provides examples of judicial practice indicating the ambiguous use of Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the absence of a precise definition of the term “destabilization of the activities of a government body” and the uniform establishment by the courts of this goal, in relation to Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Results. Based on the results of the study, we can conclude that the new version of Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation narrows the number of acts that formally fall under the elements of this crime, but do not form its constituent elements, and therefore the goals pursued by the legislator when amending the specified corpus delicti are aimed at strengthening liability for committing knowingly false reports about an act of terrorism and increasing the overall prevention in relation to this crime cannot be achieved.