The Legal Affairs Committee of the Albanian Parliament has made some changes to the government proposal for harsh prison sentences and other penalties for violators of lockdown measures.
The Committee rejected and changed the proposal for double sentencing, in fines and prison sentences, and decreased some of the sentences today.
Last week, the government proposed to Parliament to change the Criminal Code, to include prison sentences up to 15 years for violators of quarantine. The proposal was slammed by a group of 30 human rights organizations for being inhumane, disproportionate and in violation of individual rights and freedom. The Albanian president also warned that disproportional sentences would be unconstitutional.
Exit News had previously argued that the proposal for double sentencing on the same charge is unconstitutional, based on a Constitutional Court decision from 2012 that stipulated such legal provision violates the constitutional principle of proportionality.
However, several issues remain unresolved regarding the proposed changes to the Criminal Code, despite changes made at the Committee today:
The proposed changes are undergoing an expedited procedure, which the Constitution (art.81 and 82) clearly prohibits for several laws, including the Criminal Code.
Same sentences are foreseen for quarantine violators, independently if they are infected or not during lockdown.
The sentence of up to fifteen years in prison for quarantine offenders is disproportionate in relation to the situation that has brought to a lockdown – namely the spread of a virus – and it can lead to abuses.
The new proposals approved by the Committee are:
— Violation of restrictions during a natural disaster is punishable by fine or imprisonment of up to 1 year.
— Violators who cause the death of a person are sentenced from one to five years in prison.
— Violators of quarantine and related restrictions are sentenced from two to three years in prison.
— Violators of restrictions who cause spread of an epidemic are sentenced from two to five years in prison.
— Violators who cause serious consequences for human health and life are sentenced from three to ten years in prison.
The only unchanged proposal relating sentences is the harshest one:
— Violators who may cause or have caused the death of a person by not complying with government order for quarantine are to be sentenced from 5 to 15 years in prison.
