The President signed a law amending some legislative acts — the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of the Kyrgyz Republic.
The document was developed and adopted in order to ensure the protection of the right to life and sexual integrity of both children and disabled persons from criminal offences.
The law introduces the following amendments to the Criminal Code:
1) Deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities as an additional type of punishment is necessarily imposed by the court in cases of committing an intentional crime against the life and health, as well as the sexual integrity of a child or a disabled person, if the crime was committed using an official position;
2) Release on parole will no longer apply to a person sentenced to imprisonment for committing an attack on the life or sexual integrity of a child or a disabled person;
3) Life imprisonment may be imposed on men, who have reached 60 years of age at the time of the crime, for crimes against the sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of a child or a disabled person.
The relevant articles of the Criminal Code indicate that an additional qualifying factor is the commission of crimes against the sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of a child or a disabled person.
Amendments are also being made to the Criminal Procedure Code, according to which the court may issue a guilty verdict without imposing a punishment, with the exception of crimes against the sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of a child or a disabled person, if by the time of sentencing:
- The individual has developed a severe illness preventing them from serving their sentence;
- The statute of limitations for criminal prosecution has expired.
The law takes effect upon its official publication.
