Criminal Legal Protection of Lands on Which the Objects of Immovable Cultural Heritage Are Located: Analysis of Certain Legislative Initiatives

Abstract

In connection with the numerous facts of violations of the special legal regime of historical and cultural lands, in particular, their illegal development, a number of draft laws have been developed, which increase the responsibility for the destruction of immovable cultural heritage and violation of the traditional nature of the environment. The presented work is devoted to the analysis of legislative initiatives enshrined in the draft law No. 4562 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Strengthening Responsibility for the Destruction of Immovable Cultural Heritage and Violation of the Traditional Nature of the Environment», and the correlation of the provisions of this draft law with the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Land Code of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On the Protection of Cultural Heritage». Thus, the draft law is proposed to supplement Art. 197-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine «Unauthorized occupation of a land plot and unauthorized construction» with three new parts regarding the unauthorized construction of buildings or structures: in the historical area of historical settlements (Part 5 of Art. 197-1); on the territory of a historical and cultural reserve, a historical and cultural protected area, a world heritage site or in its buffer zone (Part 6 of Art. 197-1); and the acts provided for by parts five and six of this article, if they are committed repeatedly (Part 7 of Art. 197-1). In addition, it is proposed to determine the type and amount of punishment for these acts. The conducted research shows that the criminal law norms described in Art. 197-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, are able to implement a protective function regarding illegal occupation or unauthorized construction on lands of historical and cultural purposes, and therefore there is no need to adopt the law draft No. 4562 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Strengthening Responsibility for the destruction of immovable cultural heritage and violation of the traditional character of the environment», which is imperfect in terms of legal drafting methodology. However, a promising direction of scientific research and possible legislative initiatives on the issue under consideration may be the development of measures of criminal legal action against persons who illegally build up the lands on which cultural heritage sites are located.