Criminal Prosecution as a Tool of Political Pressure on Opposition Forces by Authoritarian Regimes: From the Origins to the Present

Liana Spytska1

Abstract
The purpose of this publication is a comprehensive description of the features and forms of criminal prosecution of opposition forces by authoritarian regimes. The work comprehensively reflects the pressure of authoritarian regimes on the leaders of the opposition forces with the tools of criminal prosecution in Hungary, Singapore, Egypt, the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, including in the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, and the People’s Republic of China. The experience of Ukraine in this context is also identified. The following methods were used in this research: analysis method, synthesis method, formallogical method, system-structural method, and historical method. As a result of the study, the author proposed for the first time to consider the criminal prosecution of the opposition in authoritarian regimes in three aspects – legislative, criminal procedural and the aspect of direct criminal content. The work covers the content of the proposed aspects and states that in the fight against political opposition in authoritarian regimes, the judicial system is of particular importance, the activity
of which can clearly demonstrate the application of selected theoretical aspects in practice.

Keywords: Crime, Leaders of Opposition Forces, Political Motives, Practice of the European Court of Human Rights, Political Opposition.