The constitutional right to freedom of conscience as an object of the criminal law’s protection

Introduction: The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the state guarantees equality of human rights and freedoms regardless of attitude to religion. To this end, the State prohibits insulting beliefs related to the expression of religious preferences by a person, as well as agitation based on religious hatred or enmity, as well as the creation of public associations, including religious ones based on the principles of religious superiority or intolerance. The growing complexity of social relations, the increasing role of religion in the life of society requires the state to pay close attention to compliance with legislation in the field of the freedom of conscience. The purpose of the study is to identify the features and problems of protecting the constitutional right to freedom of conscience through criminal law legislation. The object is the public relations protected by criminal law norms that arise in the field of preventing crimes that infringe the freedom of conscience. The subject of the study is the peculiarities of constitutional and criminal law protection and protection of the right to freedom of conscience. Research methods: analysis, synthesis, generalization, classification. Results. The author analyzes the current problems of criminal law legislation guaranteeing the implementation of the constitutional right to freedom of conscience. The author comes to the conclusion that the current criminal law guarantees protecting freedom of conscience in Russia do not fully comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The study also proposed a definition of the concept of «crimes against freedom of conscience»; the author’s classification of types of crimes infringing the freedom of conscience is presented. It is concluded that the criminal law legislation in the area under study requires adjustment.