TIRANA, April 9 – The Albanian government has proposed to the parliament to make several change to the Criminal Code, by introducing harsh prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who violate the government-imposed measures under the state of emergency.
According to the proposal, the violation of government measures under a state of natural disaster will be punished by fine or up to 6 months prison time, repeat violators are to be sentenced to a minimum of thirty days in prison, maximum one year.
Moreover, violators who have caused the death of a person by not complying with government orders are to be sentenced from one to 5 years in prison, if the epidemiological investigation reveals that the person infected with coronavirus who lost his life, had contact with the person who broke the quarantine.
If one does not comply with the quarantine order they will be punishable by fine or up to ten years in prison, while violators of quarantine order who have caused serious consequences for someone’s health or life are to be sentenced from 3 to 10 years in prison.
Finally, violators who may 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.
The changes were proposed by MP Edlira Bode and are expected to be approved by the Parliament on April 16.
