Lukashenko sends bill to soften criminal liability for a number of crimes to Parliament
09:00, 9 August
Photo: archives soyuz.by
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko sent the bill "On Amendments to the Codes on Criminal Liability" to the Parliament, having exercised his constitutional authority as a subject of the right of legislative initiative, BelTA learned from the press service of the head of state.
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The bill was developed by an ad hoc group set up at the President Administration. Taking into account the instructions given by the head of state during the meeting on certain aspects concerning the improvement of legislation on criminal liability on 1 January, the ad hoc group undertook a systemic analysis of the norms of criminal law and criminal procedures law. Based on its results, the group developed the following approaches. The punishment for 97 categories of offenses have been revised. Of these, 65 categories of offenses have been supplemented with alternative punishment, more lenient types of punishment (24 categories of offenses now contain imprisonment as the only possible punishment). Adjustments were made to 32 other categories of offenses, including with a view to eliminate the imbalance in the punishment.
Humanism of the criminal law has been improved. It is established that first-time non-serious offenders, women and single men raising children under the age of 14, minors and persons with disabilities of Group I shall not be deprived of liberty. The exception will be cases when a person commits crimes related to extremism or violence. Similar rules are applied for custody.
Traffic offenses that cause harm to close relatives or family members of the guilty person (part 2 of article 317 of the Criminal Code) are transferred to private-public prosecution cases (initiated at the request of the victim). The measure is intended to facilitate intra-family conflict resolution.
The bill adjusts the norms on liability for drug offenses. Alternative milder punishments are envisaged in the form of arrest for up to three months for the acquisition or possession of drugs (part 1 of article 328 of the Criminal Code); restriction of liberty for single cases of their sale (part 2 of article 328 of the Criminal Code). The lower penalty for the sale of drugs as part of an organized group is reduced from ten to eight years of imprisonment (part 4 of Article 328 of the Criminal Code). These measures will let the courts take a more flexible approach to sentencing, taking into account the public danger of the crime and the personality of the perpetrator.
Further work on the bill will be carried out by Parliament.
