Parliament Stiffens Penal Sanctions for Cruelty to Animals

Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday passed two bills amending the Penal Code to stiffen the penal sanctions for cruelty to animals.

One of the bills, moved by the Council of Ministers, makes the wilful and unlawful causing of death to an animal punishable by up to one year imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 to 3,000 leva.
Those found guilty of the wilful and unlawful infliction of harm upon an animal will be liable to probation and a maximum fine of 3,000 leva. Acts committed with particular cruelty and in a manner particularly painful to the animal will be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term from one to three years and a fine of 2,000 to 5,000 leva.

The other draft law, proposed by Maya Manolova and other MPs of Coalition for Bulgaria, sets the penal sanction for treatment of animals with particular cruelty at up to two years' imprisonment or probation and a fine of 1,000 to 6,000 leva, and the sanction for causing death to an animal at up to three years' imprisonment or probation and a fine of 2,000 to 10,000 leva.

The National Assembly passed two more bills revising the Penal Code, tabled by the Council of Ministers. One of them criminalizes the unlawful handling of pyrotechnical articles in connection with the draft Weapons, Ammunition, Explosives and Pyrotechnic Articles Act. The other bill transposes several acts of EU secondary legislation, due to be introduced until the end of 2010, including the creation of a new framework related to
Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area.

Parliament also adopted a bill criminalizing the unlicensed trade in ferrous or non-ferrous metals, introduced by Fani Hristova and other MPs of GERB.

/BTA/

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