Historical Memory as an Object of Crime

Introduction: the article is devoted to the study of historical memory as an object of crime in the criminal law of Russia. Materials and Methods: the analysis is based on the axiological approach to defining the essence and content of the category "object of crime", which determined the use of formal-legal, comparative-legal and historical-legal methods. Results: The analysis of criminal law norms in the mnemonic dimension allowed the author to assert that the general object of crime is constitutional (traditional Russian spiritual and moral) values. Historical memory can be considered as a generic object of crime. The immediate object of crimes in the memorial sphere are material and visual objects of a retrospective nature, both having positive connotations and evoking negative reminiscences, as well as intangible objects of memorial heritage. Discussion and Conclusions: Increasing the effectiveness of the application of the criminal law mechanism to the protection of historical memory necessitates the unification of all articles of a memorial nature into one chapter, as well as the clarification and supplementation of their wording in order to expand the direct objects subject to criminal law protection.