Parliament establishes punishment for illegal child adoption

The Parliament adopted amendments to the Penal Code in first reading. The amendments stipulate punishments for the illegal child adoption and for child pornography. Under the bill, the intermediation, facilitation and encouragement of illegal adoption as well as the illegal adoption of a child for profit, material or other kind of benefit is punished with fine of 200 to 400 conventional units or imprisonment of one to three years, with the deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or carry out a certain activity for a period of two to five years, in the case of individuals. The legal entities are liable to fine of 2,000 to 4,000 conventional units, with the deprivation of the right to perform a certain activity. The exertion of pressure of any kind on the parent or guardian to give consent to adoption or the presentation of forged data for legalising the adoption of a child is punished with fine of 250 to 400 conventional units or three to five years in jail, with the deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or carry out a certain activity for a period of two to five years, in the case of individuals. The legal entities are liable to fine of 2,500 to 5,000 conventional units, with the deprivation of the right to perform a certain activity or with the liquidation of the enterprise. The bill also says that the production, distribution, broadcast, importation, exportation, offering, sale, exchange, use or holding of images or other representations of a child involved in explicit, real or simulated sexual activities, or of images or other representations of the sexual organs of a child presented in a lascivious or obscene way, including electronically, is punished with one to three years in prison, in the case of individuals, and with fine of 2,000 to 4,000 conventional units, with the deprivation of the right to carry out a certain activity, in the case of legal entities. To take effect, the bill must be passed in second reading.