The Ministry of the Interior proposed a bill to amend and supplement the Penal Code so that this stipulates harsher penalties for inducement to commit suicide. The bill contains such notions as “facilitation of suicide” and “persuasion to commit suicide through electronic communications”, IPN reports.

Under the bill, inducement to suicide or suicide attempt and facilitation of suicide are punished with a jail term of three to seven years. Currently, the legislation envisions a jail term of up to four years.

The draft law separates liability for inducement to suicide or suicide attempt of a minor younger than 14 from liability for persuasion of a minor aged between 14 and 18. In the first case, the punishment is of 12 to 20 years in jail, while in the second of 5 to 12 years. The same punishment is provided if the person persuaded to commit suicide is financially or other way dependent on the culprit or is induced through electronic communications.

The informative note to the bill says in January-March 2017 alone, the police have identified 47 profiles of Moldovans – 27 girls and 20 boys - with hashtags of the category “blue whale” as a result of investigations, inspections carried out at Internet cafes and dangerous places and of monitoring of social networking sites. Four girls and one boy of these were aged between 13 and 17.