The lower house of the Parliament of Tajikistan approved amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic, which proposes to tighten legislation for the use of torture, Asiaplus reports.
Proposing amendments to the deputies, the Minister of Justice of Tajikistan, Rustam Shokhmurod, at a regular meeting of the lower house of Parliament on October 16, noted that these amendments are being introduced in order to implement the recommendations of the UN Torture Committee.
“The amendments annul the punishment for torture in the form of a fine (in the amount of 365 to 912 calculations’ indicators), which exists in the current Criminal Code of the country. They are replaced by a sentence of imprisonment of 2 to 5 years,” the Minister said.
Torture is intentional infliction of physical and (or) mental suffering, committed by a person conducting an inquiry or preliminary investigation, or by another official, either with their instigation, or with the tacit consent or with their knowledge of another person in order to obtain information from the tortured or third person or confessing or punishing him/her for an act that he/she committed or is suspected of committing, as well as intimidating or coercing him/her or a third party or for any other reason based on discrimination of any nature (Criminal Code of RT).
According to him, from now, the term of imprisonment for torture repeatedly or by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, or against a woman who is obviously pregnant for the guilty person, or a person who is obviously a minor, or an invalid, with moderate bodily harm, will amount to 5 to 8 years.
“If torture is committed with grievous bodily harm or negligently caused the death of the victim or other grave consequences, then the law provides for 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment for this, Rustam Shokhmurod said.
Convicts for torture are also deprived of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to fifteen years (depending on the gravity of the crime).
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