Problems of the criminalisation of propagating and glorifying of totalitarianism (Article 256 of the Penal Code). Part II

Abstract

The second part of the article in the first place discusses doctrinal propositions and legislative initiativesin terms of making changes in the content of Article 256 of the Penal Code. Subsequently, the analysis of signs of disposition of Article 256 §§ 1–3 of the Penal Code is made. On the basis of the reflections incorporated in both parts of the publication discussed, de lege ferenda postulates were presented regarding the course of modification of the current content of Article 256 §§ 1–3 of the Penal Code. Transfer of the prevailing part of the provisions of Article 256 of the Penal Code to the newly worded Article 133 of the Penal Code was found to be justified in order to highlight that the crime of propagating totalitarian ideas and political objectives is a crime directed mainly against the state, and its purpose comes down to insulting the victims of totalitarian systems and their descendants — all of the citizens of the Polish country, whose devastation was the aim of the two totalitarian systems — that of the Third Reich and of the communist USSR. The author of the publication opts for the introduction of normative changes that would allow for criminal prosecution of both the perpetrators of the acts consisting in the glorification of the totalitarian ideology, as well as propagating totalitarian state systems.