On December 14, Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed the law ‘On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus’ which criminalises the calls for imposing sanctions on the Republic of Belarus.
The corresponding bill was presented to the House of Representatives by deputy and top brass officer Aleh Belakoneu at the instruction of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
provides for stiffer penalties under Article 361 ‘Calls for actions aimed at causing damage to the national security of the Republic of Belarus’.
Precise wordings are not given, but the law is known to provide for stiffer penalties under Article 361 (‘calls for actions aimed at causing damage to the national security of the Republic of Belarus’).
As it was proposed in the bill, the following penalties are envisaged to for appeals to sanctions:
The state-run news agency BelTA stresses that such punishments are ‘an adequate response to attempts to destroy national security by destructive forces’.
Earlier, Aleh Belakoneu also said that Belarusians should be deprived of Belarusian citizenship for calls for sanctions, their property should be confiscated. In October, Vyachaslau Arlouski, head of the Department of the Main Office for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (notorious GUBOPiK/GUBAZiK), came up with a proposal to add some clauses to this year’s amendments to the law on citizenship, e.g. depriving of citizenship those who are now serving the interests of Western countries from abroad‘.