Treason

In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to one's nation. A person who betrays the nation of their citizenship and/or reneges on an oath of loyalty and in some way willfully cooperates with an enemy, is considered to be a traitor. Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983) defines treason as: "......citizen's actions to help a foreign government overthrow, make war against, or seriously injure the ." It is also generally considered treason to attempt or conspire to overthrow the government.

List of persons convicted or accused by some of treason, by country

As one person's traitor is another's patriot, any list is by nature highly subjective — even for those convicted of treason. In a civil war or insurrection the winners may deem the losers as traitors. Likewise the term "traitor" is used in heated political discussion —typically as a slur against political dissidents. In certain cases, as with the Nazi Dolchstosslegende, the accusation of treason towards a large group of people can be a unifying political message.

Related Topics:
Civil war - Insurrection - Slur - Political dissidents - Nazi - Dolchstosslegende

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