Government Nods to Harsher Penal Code

Politics | September 4, 2003, Thursday // 00:00

Bulgarian Cabinet greenlighted Thursday Penal Code changes, which provide for more severe penalties for a number of crimes.

The fresh amendments set harsher penalties for those who break state secrets, profit of illegal logging or start forest fires. Those involved with money laundry, blackmailing or frauds at currency exchange bureaus will also face stricter punishment.

Up to 15 years imprisonment are envisaged for those who through promulgation of state secrets deliberately harm the national security, defense, foreign policy or the protection of the constitutional order. If a civil servant is found guilty on one of these charges, he might be jailed for twenty years.

A total of 30 proposals for changes of the penal legislation were heralded by Interior Minister Georgi Petkonov on Tuesday and called "imperious" by Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg.
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