Legislation of the Russian Empire on criminal liability for the organization of a terrorist community or participation therein

In the article, the author analyzes standards of the criminal legislation of the Russian Empire which provided liability for the organization of terrorist community and participation therein. The author notes that the Code of Criminal and Corrective Penalties of 1845 provided criminal liability for the organization and participation in illegal (secret) communities. However, beyond the scope of participation there was an activity of illegal communities which accumulated efforts of many persons for commission of terrorist crimes. The author considers that distribution of terrorist ideas was promoted by the not-guilty verdict of the jury in the case of Vera Zasulich. The court qualified the actions of Zasulich, who attempted the life of St. Petersburg mayor F.F. Trepov, not as an act of terrorism, but as a general crime, which allowed to hear the case by the jury. As a result, the actions of Zasulich were recognized as public opinion and justice, as revenge for the illegal actions of F.F. Trepov concerning a prisoner, and the defendant was acquitted. As a result, the ideology that admitted murder as a normal means of struggle with the government to achieve political and social goals received broad support not only in revolutionary circles, but also at the level of society. The author also notes that the source of funding for terrorist communities (organizations) at the time was the special services of countries competing with Russia, which was one of the main reasons for the establishment and activities of such terrorist communities. Analyzing the causes of terrorism in the Russian Empire, the author notes that the responsibility for the victims of terrorism was on the society as a whole, since it made heroes of the killers, provided them with moral support for three decades. The author cites data according to which liberal tendencies also covered judicial practice regarding crimes committed by members of terrorist communities. According to Article 126 of the Criminal Code of 1903, the punishment for participation in the community that aimed to overthrow the social system existing in the state, or to commit serious crimes by means of explosives or shells was hard labor for up to 8 years or an exile. Thus, for a long time criminal liability for the organization a terrorist community and participation therein came from articles on illegal (secret) communities. However, Article 126 of the Criminal Code of 1903 classified participation in a terrorist community as a separate corpus delicti on the basis of the fact that terrorist communities used a special way of crime commission.

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