Posted on 02/18/2004 11:38:02 AM PST by knighthawk
MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - The State Duma has passed in the first reading a bill that would amend the Criminal Code so that convicted terrorists can be punished with life imprisonment.
In a 432-0 vote, the parliamentarians unanimously supported a legislative initiative put forward by United Russia deputies Pavel Krasheninnikov, Lyubov Sliska, Vladimir Pekhtin, Vladimir Vasilyev, Alexander Zhukov and Vladimir Katrenko on Wednesday.
The bill suggests increasing the imprisonment term for terrorism without aggravating circumstances to 8-12 years in jail (the existing code envisions 5-10 years in prison); terrorism with aggravating circumstances to 10-20 years in jail (currently 8-15 years); and terrorism with especially aggravating circumstances to 15-20 years or life imprisonment (currently 10- 20 years).
In addition, the bill's authors suggested that life imprisonment should be applied not only as an alternative to the death penalty, but also as a punishment measure on its own, which is to be handed down for especially grave crimes targeted at human lives and public security.
The authors said the bill was prompted by "the increasingly frequent terrorist attacks in the country, which are aimed against public security and entail numerous civilian deaths."
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