Amendments to Criminal Code to be Adopted Finally on December 8 :: Charter'97 :: News

The amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, passed by the “chamber of representatives” on November 2, are to be considered by the upper chamber of the illegitimate Belarusian parliament, the “council of republic”, on December 8. As the Radio Svaboda was informed by the experts’ legal department of the “council of republic”, the bill had been submitted for urgent consideration of the upper chamber of the parliament from Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The work of experts with the draft law has not finished. The legal opinion is to be given to the commission on questions of lawmaking and state construction.

Deputy Head of the commission Valyantsina Mironava and the chairman of the Constitutional Court of Belarus Ryhor Vasilevich (Grigory Vasilevich) have withheld comments.

“I have seen the draft law, but I must see the law. When the law will be adopted and signed, then I can express my opinion. We do not have a right to comment on draft laws,” Vasilevich said.

At the same time, the former chairman of the “council of republic” Alyaksandr Vajtovich is sure that the upper chamber will pass the political amendments to the Criminal Code, and the both chambers are equally depend on the leadership of the country.

“It’s obvious that it is done to keep the whole society, the whole country in iron grip. Lukashenka reinforces his dictatorship. You see that he had done that through a law, and not by decrees and orders. He does not want to be accountable for this. He would say it had been done by the parliamentarians. Later there would be somebody to lay the blame on. I think this move has been made on purpose,” Vajtovich said.