3° the author is carrying a weapon or uses a false name, a false title or a false order from a
legitimate authority;
4° the offence is committed by a group of persons.
Prosecution may be brought only upon complaint by the victim.
Article 450: Any person who, in bad faith and without the authorization of the addressee, opens
or deletes correspondence addressed to a third party in any form or on any medium whatsoever
shall be punished by imprisonment of one month to one year and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000
francs.
Any deletion or opening of correspondence entrusted to a mail delivery service committed or
facilitated by an agent of the said service or by any other agent or servant of the public
administration, shall be punishable by imprisonment of three months to five years.
The present article is not applicable to the father or mother or to any person exercising parental
authority, with regard to correspondence addressed to their non-emancipated minor children.
CHAPTER 5: OFFENCES AGAINST THE FAMILY
Section 1: Offences against the civil status of a child
Article 451: Any person who, by his or her actions, compromises, destroys or alters the civil
status of a child under 10 years of age, or over 10 years of age but suffering from a mental
disability rendering him or her incapable of knowing his or her own identity, shall be punished
by imprisonment for a term of five to ten years.
If it is not established that the child has lived, the penalty shall be one month to five years
imprisonment.
If it is established that the child has not lived, the penalty shall be six days to three months
imprisonment.
Section 2: Violation of obligations resulting from marriage
Article 452: Shall be punishable by imprisonment of three months to one year and a fine of
100,000 to 1,000,000 francs:
1° the father or mother of a family who abandons, without legitimate reason, for more than two
months, the family residence and abdicates to all or part of the legal obligations resulting from
the exercise of parental authority; the two-month period may be interrupted only by a return to
the home implying the will to resume family life definitively ;
2° the father or mother of a family who, without abandoning the marital home, withdraws for
one month from his legal obligations resulting from the exercise of parental authority;
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