Sodomy - what is this and what is the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for it? What article in the USSR was for sodomy?

The term "sodomy" in modern Russianis used in two ways: as the designation of homosexual contact between men (usually in a religious context) or as a purely legal term meaning a specific crime. Let's try to figure out what value is put into this word and what legal meaning it has.

"Sodom Sin"

Thinking about the question "Sodomy - what is this?"You involuntarily start to remember the Bible, and indeed: in Russian, this word came from the Church Slavonic, and specifically from religious law, which in this term was originally understood to mean exclusively anal sex between two men.

A synonym for the term "sodomy" in the churchright is also a later name "sodomy", borrowed from European languages. This term is related to the biblical legend of the city of Sodom, whose inhabitants became famous for such perverted behavior that they began to pester even the angels who came to the city to the only righteous Lot. It should be noted that in the ecclesiastical sense, sodomy is not only sodomy, but all other sexual practices that are considered vicious from the point of view of the Church (masturbation, oral sex, even extramarital affairs).

Punishment for sodomy in old Russia

Initially in Russia to the sodomized people were treatedquite gently. Criminal penalties for secular law were not envisaged for him, and church punishments were limited to penance for a term of one to seven years - that is, practically the same as in fornication between a man and a woman.

However, the situation changed over time. Under the influence of Western Europe in the Russian law there were articles for sodomy, providing already severe punishment. The most terrible thing for the sodomized men was, perhaps, the reign of Peter I. In the early years, he had a rule under which the crime was burned (a thing, in fact, for the Russian legal tradition, to say the least, uncharacteristic). Later the punishment was relaxed: usual homosexual contact was punished by corporal punishment, and connected with rape - perpetual exile.

Later, right up to Nicholas I, punishmentpractically were not applied. However, the "Code" (in fact, the first Russian criminal code), adopted in 1832, again contained rules on liability for sodomy. Now the perpetrators were punished with a prison for at least three months, and under special circumstances (violence, sex with a minor) - up to eight years. This punishment was formally in force until the October Revolution.

In itself, pre-revolutionary law did not give a direct answer to the question of sodomy-what is it. However, in the practice of courts, this crime was understood almost exclusively as an anal intercourse.

Tolerant USSR?

In the first Soviet years, homosexuality was not banned. The old law of the times of the Russian Empire did not work, and in the new criminal laws there was no liability.

Moreover, the leadership of the Union even stoppedattempts to impose punishment for this in the criminal law of individual republics. The Soviet Union of the twenties was not without grounds considered an example of tolerance for sexual deviations. Article for sodomy in the USSR at that time was absent.

Return to punishments

The situation changed in the early thirties. First there were allegations about sodomy, that it was an exclusively bourgeois perversion, intolerable in the Soviet state. The OGPU began arrests of persons suspected of non-traditional connections. It was alleged that the sodomisers are creating secret organizations with the aim of corrupting and politically decaying the youth. And in 1934 the article for sodomy was introduced in the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, and a little later - and in the Criminal Code of other republics of the USSR. From that moment sodomy in the USSR again became a crime.

In the Soviet legislation it was said aboutsodomy, that this is any sexual contact between a man and a man. For voluntary sex punishment was imprisonment for up to five years, for violence or coercion - up to eight.

The exact number of convicts under this articleis unknown. It is estimated that an average of about a thousand verdicts were issued in the USSR over a year, but it is impossible to verify this because some of the criminal cases have been lost, and the absolute majority are still in closed archives. According to human rights activists, as a whole, under the article punishing for sodomy, at least 60 thousand people have served their sentence.

Curious fact: only homosexual men were punished. Lesbian women in the USSR were never punished, and their preferences remained their personal affair.

Cancellation of criminal punishment

However, since the 1970s the USSR beganspread the view that the criminal penalty for sodomy should be abolished. Known, for example, a joke: "Putting in the prison sodomite - anyway, that the alcoholic sentenced to correctional labor at the distillery." More seriously, it was asserted that, in itself, immorality of actions should not be considered a crime. However, until the very end of the existence of the USSR, responsibility remained.

The situation changed after the collapse of the Union anddeclarations of Russia's independence. Although sodomy was still considered a crime in the early years of the Russian Federation (old Soviet law was still in force), in 1993 the article was changed. From this moment, the punishment was only for violent sodomy or for sex with a minor.

Modern Russian legislation on sodomy

Now in Russia the punishment for sodomy is itselfitself is not. However, the term has survived. Now the punishment is provided only for sodomy or other actions of a similar nature (including lesbianism) committed by violence, coercion, or in which the victim is a person who has not reached the "age of consent" (in Russia it is set at 16). Voluntarily, adults and sane citizens have the right to do whatever they want.

Despite the fact that recently in Russia the responsibility for homosexual propaganda has been introduced, there are no grounds for believing that the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for sodomy will be introduced, no.