Przestępstwa dezercji i samowolnego oddalenia się żołnierza w Związku Socjalistycznych Republik Sowieckich i Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej

Abstract

Crimes of desertion and self moving away has been a problem since armed forces have been existing. In the past, crime of desertion mostly had been punishable by the death penalty and in combat situations, combat officers could even kill a deserter without any criminal trial or disciplinary proceedings. When progressive humanitarianization was in progress, penalties for discussed crimes were gradually liberalized in the entire world. Those acts have negative influence not only on the morale of the army and its strength as a consequence, but it can also be bad for society. On the other hand, the very important thing is the severity of the sanction for those prohibited acts in time of peace, in warpath and in combat situations. The next important thing is changes of criminal sanction in legislations of those two socialist countries for previously mentioned acts. In this article it was indicated, that both crimes of desertion and self moving away were similar, the difference between them was indicated and there is notice that act of desertion is more harmful and punished more severely than self moving away. The goal of this article is to show material and legal basis of penal responsibility for crimes of desertion and self moving away in USSR and Polish Peoples Republic.