President Andrzej Duda has signed an amendment to the Criminal Code with a new definition of rape, the Office of the President of the Russian Federation announced. It will come into force six months after its publication in the Law Review.
The Act of 28 June 2024 amending the Act – Penal Code and some other acts aims to expand the scope of penalization of the crime of rape to include cases where another person is forced to have sexual intercourse or to submit to another sexual act or to perform such an act despite the lack of consent of that person.
— wrote in the information from the President’s Chancellery.
The main change of the amendment is included in art. 197 para 1. According to the new provision, “whoever provokes another person to have sexual intercourse by force, unlawful threat, deception or in any other way, despite the lack of that person’s consent, is subject to imprisonment from 2 to 15 years.” .”
According to the act, the same punishment applies to an act that involves the perpetrator taking advantage of a situation in which the victim cannot independently and consciously make decisions (give consent) regarding a sexual act.
The Act also contains a provision which states that when the perpetrator, by means of violence, unlawful threat, deception or other means, despite the lack of his consent or taking advantage of his inability to recognise the meaning of the act or to direct his behaviour, provokes another person to perform another sexual act or to perform it, he is punished with imprisonment from six months to eight years.
At the same time, the law amends the provisions of three other laws: the Law of 28 November 2014 on the protection and assistance of injured parties and witnesses; the Law of 13 May 2016 on combating threats of sexual crimes and the protection of minors and the Law of 9 June 2022 on the support and social rehabilitation of minors.
The current definition of rape, which will be replaced by the one contained in the amendment, is from 1932 and says: “Whoever, by force, unlawful threat or deception, causes another person to submit to an unlawful act (…) shall be subject to imprisonment.”
The draft amendment was submitted to the Sejm in February this year. It was introduced by a group of left-wing deputies. The Sejm completed legislative work on the law on July 26 and sent it to the president for signature.
tkwl/PAP
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