Lukashenko signed law on amendments to codes on criminal liability

On February 17th, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the law On Amendments to the Codes on Criminal Liability, which comprehensively improves criminal and criminal procedures legislation, sb.by reports with reference to the Belarusian leader’s press service

According to the document, the punishment for 97 categories of crimes has been revised. Of these, 65 have been supplemented with alternative, more lenient types of punishments (24 categories have so far envisaged imprisonment as the only possible punishment). Another 32 categories of crimes have been changed in terms of the type of punishment.

It is established that women and single men raising children under the age of 14 who commit minor crimes for the first time, as well as minors and people with disabilities of Group I, are not sentenced to imprisonment. However, these rules will not apply to extremism and violent crimes.

Criminal cases on traffic violations that caused harm to close relatives or family members of the person responsible for the accident will be initiated only at the request of the victims. This approach is designed to facilitate intra-family conflict resolution.

The law provides for strengthening the fight against cybercrime. For example, funds that are the subject of a crime can now be seized, and this will make it possible to quickly block the stolen amounts on the accounts and ensure their return to the victims. The mechanism for blocking mobile phone numbers, phishing sites, and other Internet resources used by intruders in criminal schemes is also being established.

The protection of the rights of minor participants in the criminal process is increasing: i.e. the participation of a teacher and a psychologist will be mandatory both during the interrogation of teenagers and also during confrontation and verification of testimony at a scene.

In addition, the law provides for measures that allow courts to be more flexible in imposing penalties for crimes related to drug trafficking.

The main provisions of the law come into force ten days after its official publication.

As reported, the draft of the relevant law was sent to Parliament by the President of Belarus in August 2024. The document was prepared by a specially created working group under the President Administration. Taking into account the instructions of the Head of State given at the meeting on certain issues of improving legislation on criminal liability, the working group has conducted a systematic analysis of the norms of criminal law and criminal procedures law in order to propose adjustments that would provide courts with more opportunities to individualise punishment depending on the severity of the crime committed, as well as to make criminal legislation more humane in relation to certain categories of persons.