Encroachments on archaeological heritage, committed with participation: problems of legal regulation and qualification

Based on the analysis of theoretical and legislative aspects of securing responsibility for encroachments on objects of archaeological heritage, as part of a group of persons by prior conspiracy, an organized group and a criminal community, the author proposes ways to optimize the system of qualifying and especially qualifying features in Art. 164, 190, 226.1, 243.1, 243.2, 243.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The author draws attention to the unreasonableness of equalization by the legislator when constructing qualified and especially qualified corpus delicti of social danger of a group of persons and an organized group. Moreover, the article notes the problem of the prevalence of encroachments on objects of archaeological heritage sites as part of an organized group or a criminal community. The research also examines such issues as the specifics of the form of guilt when committing a crime as part of a group of persons by prior conspiracy, such signs of an organized group as the stability and purpose of criminal activity.