Supreme Court proposes to imprison debtors

Administrative detention for debtors may be introduced in Belarus.

The draft law “On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences” provides for strengthening administrative responsibility for those who didn't pay their debts through a court, Interfax news agency reports.

“It is proposed to strengthen responsibility up to administrative detention for those who fail to pay their debts through a court,” Valiantsin Sukala, the chairman of the Surpeme Court of Belarus, said on Wednesday introducing the draft law to the “parliament”.

He noted that there were “920,000 debtors who must pay debts under a court ruling, but these judgments are not always fulfilled”. Sukala specified that 920,000 debtors have 1.5 million court proceedings, which means that some debtors have several court decisions obliging them to pay debts.

“The adoption of this draft law and strengthening the administrative responsibility will encourage debtors to fulfil court decisions,” Sukala said and reminded that the single service of officers of court would be set up in Belarus soon.

Answering questions of members of “parliament” about responsibility for parents who avoid paying for the care of children, the chairman of the Supreme Court said there were 24,000 such parents in Belarus. He didn't agree with the initiative to open criminal cases against such parents. “The Supreme Court doesn't consider it necessary to initiate criminal proceedings against them. Administrative measures are enough,” Sukala said.

MPs adopted the draft law at first reading.