Belarus Decides To Revise Criminal Code

The bill is already ready.

At a meeting of the interdepartmental working group headed by Deputy Head of the Lukashenka administration Volha Chuprys on May 30, the adjustment of the criminal legislation was discussed. This was reported by the National Legal Internet Portal.

Chuprys noted that the group received about 350 different proposals from government agencies and organisations, judges, parliamentarians and legal scholars specializing in criminal law. Their total volume was about 250 pages. All of them were thoroughly analysed.

‘In order to develop the most optimal legal models, we studied foreign experience, publications in the media and scientific findings. In some cases we turned to the experience of the Criminal Code of the BSSR of 1960,’ she stressed.

The relevant bill has been prepared taking into account the proposals. According to Chuprys, it is planned to supplement more than 90 offences with milder penalties, not involving imprisonment. Of these, 36 now have non-alternative sanctions.

‘These measures will allow courts to take a more flexible approach to sentencing, much less often resorting to the use of exceptional mechanisms,’ continued the head of the interdepartmental working group.

She also emphasised that the revision of the Criminal Code was carried out in close coordination with the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Penal Enforcement Code. It is planned to amend the codes on administrative responsibility as well.