MINSK, 4 October (BelTA) – The bill on amending the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus passed its first reading in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus on 4 October, BelTA has learned.
The draft law “On the Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus” was submitted to the House of Representatives by MP Oleg Belokonev on the instruction of the Belarusian president on 27 September 2021.
Due to the spread of new specific types of unlawful behavior and in order to enhance the preventive potential of Article 361 of the Criminal Code, a new version of Article 361 has been introduced to toughen criminal responsibility for the actions aimed at causing damage to the national security of Belarus. The new article also specifies such criminogenic characteristics of this crime as calls to apply restrictive measures (sanctions) against Belarus, natural and legal persons of the country.
The draft law proposes to punish the specified actions under part 1 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code with restriction of liberty for up to five years or imprisonment for up to six years, under part 2 - imprisonment from three to ten years, under part 3 - imprisonment from four to twelve years.
