Foreign Experience of Criminalization of Insults and Threats to a Military Serviceman

Abstract

The aggressive war unleashed by russia against Ukraine has exacerbated the problem of legal protection of the rights and interests of military servicemen in our country. This has also been reflected in the field of criminal law. A number of changes and additions have been made to the criminal legislation, including provisions on bringing the professional honor, dignity and mental integrity of military servicemen under criminal law protection. Article 435-1 criminalized insults and threats to military servicemen and their relatives. These changes have led to a discussion among scientists and practitioners on a number of issues, in particular, on the problem of criminalizing insults to military servicemen. The article thoroughly examines foreign experience in criminalizing such socially dangerous acts, as well as the possibility and admissibility of their decriminalization. The study of the criminal legislation of developed countries of the world conducted in the article led to the conclusion about the admissibility and necessity of criminalizing the specified socially dangerous act. At the same time, the article emphasizes the specificity of the relevant norm that exists in Ukraine and the appropriateness of making changes to it that will correspond to both the system of national criminal legislation and world practice of countering such socially dangerous acts. The author considers two possible ways to solve this problem. Arguments are given in favor of each of the options and it is emphasized that the legislator can choose any of these ways. The article presents the author's versions of Articles 129 and 435-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, as well as the proposed draft content of the article on insulting both honor and dignity in general and professional honor and dignity of military servicemen. In the author's opinion, the introduction of the proposed changes into domestic criminal legislation can increase the effectiveness of the application of the criminal law norm that protects the professional honor and dignity of military servicemen and their mental integrity.