Lukashenko submitted bill on mitigating criminal liability for some crimes to Parliament

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has submitted to Parliament a draft law On Amending Criminal Liability Codes, thus exercising his constitutional authority as a subject of the legislative initiative right, sb.by reports with reference to the Belarusian leader’s press service

The draft law was developed by a working group specially created under the President Administration. Taking into account the instructions of the Head of State, given on January 11th at a meeting on certain issues of improving legislation on criminal liability, the working group conducted a systematic analysis of the norms of criminal and criminally-remedial laws. Based on its results, certain approaches have been developed and implemented within the framework of the draft law.

The sanctions of 97 offences have been revised. Of these, 65 have been supplemented with alternative, more lenient types of punishments (24 offences envisage imprisonment as the only possible punishment at present), and adjustments have been made to another 32 (including with the purpose of eliminating the imbalance in sanctions).

The humanistic component of the criminal law is being strengthened. It is established that women and single men raising children under the age of 14, as well as minors and people with disabilities of group I, who have committed minor crimes for the first time are not sentenced to imprisonment. An exception will be cases where a person has committed an extremist crime or a criminal act involving the use of violence. Similar rules are provided for in terms of detention.

Crimes of violation of traffic rules, which have caused harm to close relatives or family members of the guilty person, are transferred to cases of private and public prosecution (initiated at the request of the victim) (Part 2 of Article 317 of the Criminal Code). This measure is intended to contribute to the intra-family settlement of the conflict.

The draft law has adjusted the norms on liability for drug crimes. Alternative, more lenient penalties are provided in the form of arrest for up to three months for the purchase or possession of drugs (Part 1 of Article 328 of the Criminal Code); restrictions on freedom for one-time cases of their sale (part 2 of Article 328 of the Criminal Code). At the same time, the lower penalty for selling drugs as part of an organised group is reduced from 10 to 8 years in prison (Part 4 of Article 328 of the Criminal Code).

Appropriate measures will allow the courts to be more flexible in their approach to sentencing, taking into account the public danger of the crime and the identity of the perpetrator.

Parliament will oversee further work on the bill.