In an interview with the "Ordinary Morning" channel, NAM Legal Advisor Mikhail Kirilyuk discusses the prosecutor's office's initiatives to tighten parents' responsibility for their children's offenses
The current administrative code already establishes parental responsibility for such offenses. However, the proposed criminal liability is indeed an "innovation." It is crucial to consider the potential aspect of political intimidation that these new measures could be used for.
Why are these changes being introduced? Is there a significant increase in child crime in Belarus? There is no evidence to support such a claim. Who are the individuals that believe we have such a problem in our country and that it requires separate legislation? These individuals are prosecutors who have not been elected by the people. The issue lies in the absence of a parliament that represents the choices of the population. This is the problem at hand.
What can we anticipate from this legislation? In terms of law enforcement practices, we should not expect any fundamentally new strategies, as the overall situation regarding laws in Belarus remains unchanged. The OSCE report in 2020 characterized Belarus as having a legal default, and that situation has not been rectified yet