Essence of the question
First, we need to figure out what “telephone terrorism” actually is? The article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides a completely comprehensive explanation on this matter. This term refers to the actions of citizens who deliberately report false information regarding an impending act of terrorism.
According to the applicants, this could be arson, explosion or other situations that pose a certain threat to human life or serious material (property damage), or other consequences dangerous to society. As a rule, such calls come from payphones. This is very convenient and safe, since this method has two main positive aspects:
- secrecy (calls from public telephones are extremely difficult to track);
- material benefit (you can contact emergency services for free).
These days, there are many different types of devices used by offenders accused of “telephone terrorism.” The article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a list of them. However, in practice, criminals often use:
- special devices for changing voices;
- prepaid phones;
- dummy SIM cards.
In addition, information can be sent from a computer (email), regular letter or SMS message. This makes it even more difficult to find the offender.
Corpus delicti
Like any crime, telephone terrorism has its own strictly regulated composition. If the composition is incomplete and at least one element is missing, the case may fall apart, and the culprit will not be punished.
The composition looks like according to Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as follows:
- Object – relationships to maintain public safety measures. This is, speaking in a general sense. When it comes to the private sense, the object in this case is the lives and health of a large number of citizens, threats to the preservation of property, disruption in the work of law enforcement agencies and special services.
- The objective side is the communication of deliberately false information about the time, place and type of terrorist attack. Moreover, the method of transmitting this information does not matter for determining the crime. Such information can be obtained orally, in writing and even through third parties.
- The subject is a sane person over the age of 14 years. Such a low age of criminal responsibility is due to the great popularity of such hooligan acts among schoolchildren.
- The subjective side is direct intent, according to which the guilty person is aware of the falsity of the information being transmitted and the risks of panic and misleading a large number of people. If a person conveyed information about an alleged terrorist attack, being confident in its reality, without the intent to deceive the police, his action will not imply criminal prosecution.
The motives for the crime have no bearing on the criminal offence. For telephone terrorism to take place, it is necessary that false information be transmitted precisely to those persons and to those structures that are obliged to respond to these messages.
If such information was transferred to another person, this act will be considered minor.
Crime under Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is considered completed from the moment the addressee of the message receives false information about a terrorist attack.
Goals and Intentions
A person who performs a particular act strives to achieve a certain goal. What, then, is “telephone terrorism” aimed at? The article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not give a clear answer to this question. However, practice shows that this is done:
- For temporary disruption of the work of specific organizations or enterprises. For example, it is not uncommon for students to call and report a bomb planted in the school building in order to disrupt an upcoming test.
- To deliberately divert the attention of special services from their direct work.
- Just for hooligan reasons.
Sometimes such violators are confused with “prankers.” This word comes from the English prank, which means prank, joke or innocent prank. But such people, just for the sake of their own amusement, make fun of their interlocutor, leading him to a frank conversation, the recording of which is then posted on the Internet. Their actions are actually practically harmless telephone hooliganism. With terrorists the situation is different.
When pranksters are punished under the Criminal Code
However, it cannot be said unequivocally that telephone entertainment is never punished in accordance with the Criminal Code. Depending on what the hooligan allows himself to do while talking on the phone, certain criminal law provisions may be applied.
Such actions are no longer considered telephone hooliganism. These are much more serious violations.
These include, for example:
- telephone terrorism;
- threats over the phone to life and health, if there is reason to believe that they will be carried out.
If harassment was carried out with threats to life and health, and they are proven in relation to a specific subject, then the offender may face fines, correctional labor and even imprisonment in accordance with Article 119 of the Criminal Code.
However, there are no criminal penalties for someone attempting to harass someone in an indecent manner over the phone.
Article 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation does not cover harassment by telephone. The legislator classifies such harassment as petty hooliganism; the best way to protect yourself would be to contact the police, followed by administrative punishment, and change your phone number.
Undesirable consequences
Why is “telephone terrorism” and its consequences so dangerous? The actions of such pranksters are capable of:
- Create a temporary disruption or partial disorganization of the work of a particular enterprise. This could be a station, factory, airport or any institution, the inaction of which in some cases threatens with serious losses.
- Provoke serious panic, which, if there is a large crowd of people, can even lead to casualties.
- Distract first responders from addressing the issues that really matter. People who actually need help will not be able to get it on time.
- After repeated false statements by the intelligence service, the truth of each subsequent call will be questioned.
To prevent such situations, police stations record all incoming conversations, and also install caller ID, with the help of which you can easily determine the location of a hooligan or prankster.
Responsibility for false reporting from minors
It is not clear to everyone that such crimes involve harsh punishments. If sensible people are able to evaluate their actions and calls, then teenagers are not yet able to adequately assess the severity of the consequences of their actions. This should be explained at home by parents, teachers in schools, and law enforcement officers during specialized conversations.
A lot of work is being done, penalties have been tightened, but children continue to play pranks in such a dangerous way. According to statistics from the press service of law enforcement agencies, most of these reports come from persons whose age has not yet reached 14 years, when criminal liability for such crimes arises. Even if a child calls, emergency services are obliged to respond, which is what always happens without exception.
The young attacker has been found, and what awaits him now? A person under 14 years of age is exempt from criminal liability, but he is expected to be registered with a special service for minors or continue his studies in special institutions, depending on his age. All responsibility for the deed falls on the shoulders of his parents, guardians or adoptive parents. As practice shows, this does not end with imprisonment. There are alternative methods of punishment, namely:
- fines calculated in amounts from 200 to 500 thousand rubles;
- collection of the total amount of wages for the last year and a half;
- community service for two hundred days;
- “rest” of relatives in the zone for about three years.
Imprisonment is provided if the relatives of a minor offender do not have the means to compensate for the loss.
What seemingly innocent children's pranks lead to, see in the video:
Case from practice
One of the students, wanting to disrupt a test, called the police and reported that the school had been bombed. After his call, emergency services and ambulance crews were sent to the school. The parents of the “terrorist” were brought to justice. But the prosecutor simply felt sorry for the culprits. The defendants were charged the money spent on the emergency services. Well, the culprit himself remained under the supervision of the juvenile affairs service. After graduating from school, such children are rarely able to continue their studies in higher educational institutions.
If the described “prank” had resulted in serious damage, injury or death, the punishment would have been more severe. In such cases, innocent parents can end up behind bars and stay there for up to 10 years.
Fair retribution
Article 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains detailed information about what punishment awaits the unlucky terrorist. If the damage from the actions of a telephone hooligan is insignificant, then, based on Part 1, he can expect:
- a fine, the amount of which is either up to 200 thousand rubles, or the total amount of income for a period of up to 18 months;
- compulsory work no more than 480 hours;
- correctional labor from 1 to 2 years;
- forced labor or restriction of freedom for a period not exceeding 3 years;
- arrest up to 6 months;
- imprisonment for a maximum of 5 years.
If the damage from the actions of the violator is considered large (more than 1 million rubles), then in accordance with Part 2 of this article, he faces the following as punishment:
- fine (either up to 1 million rubles, or in the amount of total income from one and a half to 3 years);
- complete imprisonment for up to 5 years.
The final amount of the punishment is established by the court after an appropriate trial with consideration of all the evidence available in the case.
What is telephone terrorism
The autumn of 2021 in Russia was overshadowed by a huge number of calls to most major Russian cities, warning about the threat of a terrorist attack in various public institutions and establishments. These messages warned of the threat of a terrorist attack and, as a result, in accordance with the current regulations, special services carried out a mass evacuation of people from the facilities where such calls were received, which paralyzed the activities of many organizations and required the use of a wide variety of resources - including special equipment and work experts.
The consequences of such actions were the evacuation of more than 400 thousand people across the country in September alone, and the economic damage from these acts over the same period amounted to more than 1 billion rubles.
The wave of such calls, which were accompanied by threats of terrorist attacks or simply information about their possible implementation, was called an epidemic of “telephone terrorism.” Accordingly, it was precisely for false reports about terrorist acts, explosions, arson or other public dangers that the definition of “telephone terrorism” was assigned in the public understanding. At the same time, a discussion arose in society on the topic of introducing penalties for such actions, despite the fact that certain liability was already provided for by the provisions of the current legislation.
Important fact
It should be noted that “telephone terrorism,” which began to be talked about in society only at the end of 2021, took place earlier, but not on such a scale. It should be distinguished from telephone hooliganism, which is most often classified as another crime or offense. And, despite the possibility of hooligan motives in messages about terrorism, this crime and the punishment for it are much more severe than in the case of traditional telephone hooliganism.
