Маркарьян Рубен Валерьевич - Адвокат

The war is going on. All its odious marks are on hand: treacherous and ingenious enemy, death of people, tears of parents, who lost the most precious in their lives, the eyes of orphans and constant fear. To make things worse the anger rising with each TV news program. The anger against the war, which now concerns everybody, in which we, ordinary citizens, ate now taking part only as cannon fodder. The state which should take care of us and protect from turning into such fodder does not fulfill its obligations. Although it claims the opposite from TV screens after each of terror attacks.

In response to this some Russians started writing poems, something along the lines of "let us rally in the face of misfortune and …" and send them to TV, where later these will be brought to people at large... disaster has come, we’ll stick together … As usual, the appeal is the right one. Unfortunately it’s hard to think of any continuation: "and what…."? " and plunge into the battle? Or "And …outwait the misfortune with our teeth clenched?" We are very skilled in doing the second. Traditionally. We have spent three hundred years in moors breathing through a reed snorkel hiding from Mongol raids. Then after all we gathered the army, scattered the enemy troops and won. Although it took much time to gather the army and search for commanders. And not every field in Russia is a Kulikovo field where a final battle can be won. In the war with international terror, at the age of high tech and speed it will be difficult to find such suitable Kulikovo field.

I don’t want to describe all steps and measures that to my mind should be taken in order to win this war. Let someone more informed write about reforming of politicized secret services and law enforcement agencies. In the beginning of 90-s one law enforcement officer, a militia sergeant offered me to buy a golden chain from him. He and his partner arrested a car driver for keeping a gun. In exchange for his freedom he gave them a golden chain from his neck weighing 100 gram (by the way I realize now why mobsters wear chains: for buying back their freedom, as the cash is not always available). I memorized this episode because this militia sergeant later boasted to me about a very profitable deal: he sold back the confiscated gun the next day to the same mobster for $700. Now I think this sergeant is already a colonel selling truckful of weapon of larger calibre. Or maybe organizes escorting of militants to the place of terror attacks in cars with light bars.

Let someone more informed write about sponsors of terrorism based in London and other decent places. And how to fight them. Or how to fight the organizers of terror groups who train militants. The topic can be enlarged. I will handle only the smallest part of what should be done. I want to speak about the liability for bringing up a terrorist. The Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the RF specifies the liability for terrorism. Hostage taking and detention is covered by Art. 206 of CC. The terrorist and gangster seizing the hostage will be punished with up to 20 years of imprisonment, followed by intentional homicide (Art.105 Criminal Code of the RF) – with death penalty (suspended) or life sentence. Some politicians from TV screens suggest making the liability for terrorism more severe. How can it be more severe? Is it possible if a terrorist blows himself up in a crowd of people? He died this way. Or the terrorist may be shot during the attack. How can he be punished? To my mind we should start with … liability of parents or persons replacing them. I agree, this is disputable but I suggest introducing criminal liability of parents not for the crimes of their children but for improper performance of child-rearing responsibilities.

We got accustomed to living in some virtual world. We should keep in mind that we do not live in tribes and herds, and not according to the rules of our clan or computer network, but in society which has worked out the laws of social life. Those who accept the law may live in the society scrupulously observing the law. Those who do not accept it may leave for the place with more suitable laws. And those who do not accept and violate the law causing the deaths of our loved ones – these are our enemies against whom the war is being waged now.

The law which I refer to is the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The most basic and most neglected law. We often forget it while passing, applying and citing other specific laws. But let us look closely at our Constitution and refresh our memory about what is written in the preamble. "We are multinational people of the Russian Federation, connected by the same destiny on our land, asserting human rights and liberty, civil peace and reconciliation, preserving the traditional state unity, relying on generally recognized principals of equality and national self-determination, honouring the memory of our forefathers, who passed to us the love and respect to our Motherland, faith into the good and justice, reviving sovereign federal status of Russia and asserting the firmness of its democratic foundation, striving to provide for prosperity and welfare of Russia, realizing our responsibility before present and future generations, aware that we are part of world community, we pass the CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION." In other words, having passed the Constitution, we reached an AGREEMENT!!!

We agreed that "A person, his/her rights and freedom are the highest value" (Art.2). We agreed that "Everyone has a right to live" (Art.20). We agreed that "Child welfare and upbringing is an equal right and responsibility of parents." (P.2 art.38). Nobody is born a criminal. If your parents keep telling you that it is bad to kill it probably won’t prevent you from becoming a murderer. But the probability that you will NOT become one is great, you should agree with that. If you parents do not pay much attention to you and you face the dilemma whether you "may" or "may not" kill all by yourself, based on experience you had on the streets, then the possibility that human life will be of little value for you is much greater. If you are repeatedly told from your early years the same story that after death you will go to Heaven subject to murdering of some enemies who believe in wrong god, you will probably do that. If you are repeatedly told from your early years that “kuffar” are dogs who give birth to alcoholics and prostitutes, then your attitude towards such people will never change. I do not refer to any religion or nation.

It is a great error to blame Islam for ideological feeding of terrorism and call the scum from suicide bombers club Shakhids. For example, in Saudi Arabia, where the main ideology is one of Islam schools – Wahhabism, in 1989 the collegiums of major scholars specified a punishment for commitment of acts of terror. In their statement they underlined that terrorists jeopardize values protected by Shariat – religion, life, reason, human dignity and property. By analogy with liability for robbery specified by Koran a punishment for terror is death penalty.

The dictionary describes Shakhid as a person who died for faith, martyr, witness. In Shariat terminology Shakhid means a hero fallen in a just war with aggressors protecting Islam and freedom of Moslems for studying and practicing their religion. In the prophet’s Hadith people who were killed by bandits as they tried to protect themselves, who died during epidemics and even lovers who died having kept their honour are also called Shakhid. The Shakhids also include those who died of plague, Plevritis, tuberculosis, of stomach deceases, drowned people, women who died during pregnancy or after giving birth because of haemorrhage. The Moslems killed during World War II are Shakhids. On the opposite, suicide bombers exploding themselves among civilians act in contradiction with Islam.

Sheikh Ibn Usaymin said: "…as for some people who commit suicide by fastening explosives to themselves and then reaching a group of faithless people and exploding themselves among them - this is a pure suicide and we seek shelter of Allah from it. Whosoever committed suicide will be considered (by Shariat) as abiding in fire, as mentioned in Prophet's Hadith: "And whoever killed himself with a steel weapon shall eternally have a steel weapon in his hand and permanently hit himself in the stomach in the fire of hell". From this we can conclude that a person commits two serious sins - murder of civilians and suicide. And this refers neither to religion nor to nationality. Accordingly this should be told in the early years. And if parents read neither Torah nor Bible or Koran but raise their child to be a suicide bomber and terrorist in the name of Islam or other religion then they should be blamed for that and should be hold liable.

Do you know that parents of terrorist are given honours, they get helped as they have raised a “Shakhid”? I have heard of this. In the Internet one may find a price list specifying goodish sum of money for their well off senility. So what does all this mean? A son or a daughter know from early years that if they explode themselves in a crowd of faithless people they will get to heaven to enjoy eternal bliss. And parents (who are probably the only value for a suicide bomber) will be highly respected and receive help in senility. In this connection it would be fair if suicide bomber knew that his or her parents would be taken care of not by terrorism sponsors, but by state sending their parents to prison. And parents raising their children in the spirit of “perverted Wahhabism” should understand that they provide for their staying in the senior centre behind the bars.

It is clear that some suicide bombers do not have parents at the moment of crime and they will not be frightened. Probably so. But refusal to perform act of terror by one person saves lives of normal people. And moreover, this as a long war which concerns several generations. First of all, the purpose of this measure (liability of parents) is not the punishment of concrete people but fixing the information in genes that if my child becomes a terrorist I will end my days in prison. This will probable make people think about education of their children. Some may object that these measures are too cruel. One cannot be punished for deeds of another. Once again I remind that the suggested punishment will not be for terrorism and not for implication but for undue fulfilment of constitutional obligation to raise children that resulted in grave consequences.

By the way, few people know that in Russia this principle has been implemented in one of local laws. Republic of Bashkortostan in 1997 passed a Law "About administrative responsibility of parents and persons replacing them for deliberately false announcement about acts of terrorism by juvenile under 14 years". Art. 1 of the law states: "The present law is aimed to prevent delinquent acts by juvenile under 14 and specifies administrative responsibility of parents or persons replacing them for undue fulfilment of their child-rearing obligations".

Journal "Man and Law" №11.2004

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