Constitutive elements of the crime of illegally depriving citizens of their freedom of religious belief

This crime is objectively manifested as illegal deprivation of citizens' freedom of religious belief, and the circumstances are serious.

Illegal deprivation of citizens' freedom of religious belief refers to the use of violence, coercion or other coercive methods to prevent someone from believing in religion or joining a religious group, or to force him to give up religion or quit a religious group; Or force unbelievers to believe in religion; Or use the above methods to undermine religious activities and so on. The acts of this crime mainly

(1) Interfering with others' freedom of religious belief by violence, coercion or other illegal means. State functionaries prohibit others from believing in religion and joining religious groups by violence, coercion or other illegal means; Forcing others to give up religion and quit religious groups; Or forcing others to believe in a certain religion or join a certain religious group, if the circumstances are serious, it constitutes the crime of illegally depriving freedom of religious belief.

(2) Closing or destroying religious sites and necessary facilities. Religious places and necessary facilities such as temples and churches are necessary for religious believers to hold legitimate religious activities and are closely related to freedom of religious belief. Some ethnic minorities even regard religious temples as symbols of national existence. Historically, for Tibetans and ethnic minorities who believe in Islam, temples are not only places for religious activities, but also centers for the spread of national culture. Some Lama temples are rich in Tibetan historical and cultural traditional materials. Therefore, the act of closing or destroying religious sites and necessary facilities will undoubtedly damage the religious feelings of religious citizens and infringe on their religious beliefs.

(3) Prohibiting or interfering with lawful religious activities. Every religion has its own religious activities, such as Catholic Mass, Christian Worship, Buddhism and Dharma, Taoist Dojo, Islamic Worship and Hajj. It is through these activities that religious beliefs can be spread, believers' beliefs can be strengthened and religious feelings can be cultivated. Because in solemn religious places, through sacred and complete religious ceremonies and mysterious costumes, props and music, believers can have a strong sense of identity and belonging, and individuals and religious groups are closely linked through mutual infection. Therefore, without religious activities, there will be no believers, and religion itself will not become a religion that many people believe in. Because of this, legal religious activities are very important and indispensable to religion itself and its followers. Prohibiting and interfering with such activities will inevitably hurt the religious feelings of believers and infringe on their right to freedom of religious belief.

(4) Threatening, attacking or persecuting citizens who believe in religion. The consequences are serious. For example, in order to deprive people of their legitimate freedom of religious belief, they carry out political attacks and persecutions on believers, impose illegal economic sanctions, and make personal threats, which have a bad influence.

(five) illegal revocation of legal religious organizations, illegal deprivation of the rights of teaching staff to perform their religious duties under the leadership of various religious groups, illegal obstruction, prohibition of the publication of religious publications, or ordered the closure of religious institutions.

There are 8 national patriotic religious groups, 164 provincial religious groups and more than 2,000 county-level religious groups. The duties of these organizations are to assist the Party and the government to implement the policy of freedom of religious belief, represent the legitimate rights and interests of religious circles, arrange normal religious activities and handle educational affairs. Therefore, the illegal revocation of legal religious organizations, resulting in serious consequences, also constitutes a crime of violating freedom of religious belief. In addition, there are 47 religious colleges and universities in China, with various religious publications 10, and more than 200,000 young professional religious teachers who have graduated from religious colleges and universities. Religious institutions, religious publications and religious professionals all have an important influence on the spiritual life of religious citizens, and illegal interference with them is also an infringement on freedom of religious belief.

(6) Insulting a religion or a religious group by means of language, writing or patterns. It can also constitute the crime of illegally depriving freedom of religious belief. For example, state functionaries of news publishing institutions such as publishing houses, newspapers and magazines publish and distribute publications knowing that they contain contents that insult or damage religions or religious groups, thus causing adverse social impact.

(seven) other acts of deprivation of freedom of religious belief have serious consequences or adverse effects.

Serious circumstances refer to the actor's bad means or serious harmful consequences. Bad means usually means that the actor deprives citizens of their freedom of religious belief by the following means.

(1) Violating citizens' personal freedom by means of coercion or injury;

(2) forcing citizens to do or not to do something by means of coercion or mental coercion;

(3) Insulting, attacking or slandering citizens by means of writing, leaflets or slogans, and damaging their reputation and personality;

(four) vandalism, looting and burning of religious sites and facilities;

(5) other means that can produce similar consequences to the above acts.

The serious consequences mainly include the following aspects:

(1) Causing personal injury to citizens, except serious injury and death. When the victim is seriously injured or killed by the perpetrator's behavior, whether intentionally or negligently, his behavior is consistent with the imaginative concurrence of this crime and the corresponding crime of infringing citizens' personal rights. According to the judgment principle of imaginative joinder of crimes, the crime of infringing citizens' personal rights is naturally convicted and sentenced.

(2) Causing harm to the victim's spirit and seriously affecting his normal religious activities and daily life;

(3) Causing serious damage to religious sites and facilities and causing serious property losses. However, if the precious cultural relics of the country are destroyed, the crime of destroying cultural relics should also be determined according to the principle of imaginative joinder of crimes;

(4) Causing social conflicts such as religious riots and ethnic disputes, which have a bad social impact;

(5) Causing the victim's family disintegration, suicide or other serious consequences. Subjectively, this crime is intentional, that is, knowingly depriving others of the right to freedom of religious belief. If it is not intentional, but objectively results in depriving others of their freedom of religious belief, it does not constitute this crime.