The Elements of the Offence and the Terrorist Purpose
Article 323 of the Criminal Code treats the terrorist act as one of the gravest offences. Under its first part, a terrorist act is an explosion, arson, an attack on a person, the use of a weapon or another action that creates a danger of loss of human life, significant property damage or another grave consequence, committed with a terrorist purpose. This dual core of the offence — a violent act plus a special purpose — determines the entire defence strategy: a dangerous act alone is not enough; the prosecution must also prove the intent to intimidate or coerce.
The terrorist purpose is defined in the note to the article: it is the intimidation of the population or the compulsion of an organ of state authority, of an organ of a foreign state or of an international organization to perform or not to perform an act, or the destabilization or destruction of the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country, a foreign country or an international organization. If the prosecution cannot prove that this purpose actually existed, the qualification under Article 323 gives way to an ordinary violent offence, with a substantially lower penalty range.
Penalties by Separate Parts
The law assesses each composition with a separate penalty, and these ranges must be presented individually. A terrorist act committed under the first part is punished by deprivation of liberty for a term of ten to fifteen years. The threat to commit an act provided for by the first part is a separate composition, punished by deprivation of liberty for a term of six to twelve years — even words, in this chapter, carry an independent sanction.
The same act committed by a group, repeatedly, or with the use of a weapon of mass destruction is punished by deprivation of liberty for a term of twelve to seventeen years. Where an act provided for by these parts has caused the loss of human life or another grave consequence, the penalty is deprivation of liberty for a term of fifteen to twenty years or life imprisonment. A legal person is punished by liquidation or deprivation of the right to conduct activity and by a fine.