site.btaParliament Passes on First Reading Stricter Penalties for Human Traffickers

Parliament Passes on First Reading Stricter Penalties for Human Traffickers

Sofia, January 11 (BTA) - Parliament Wednesday passed on first reading a Bill to Amend and Supplement the Criminal Code tabled by MP Mariana Todorova of ABV and a group of MPs. The new texts provide for more severe penalties for human trafficking, traffickers and illegal assistance to foreigners to reside in this country or to pass through it.

The revisions were supported by 117 MPs, four were against and two abstained.

The parliamentary groups of GERB, the Patriotic Front, Ataka and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) declared they support the revisions. According to MRF MP Chetin Kazak, the main problem is traffickers and human trafficking, including with the participation of law-enforcement officers.

Valeri Simeonov of the Patriotic Front declared that the refugee crisis is among the greatest threats to national security and the country's sovereignty. The winter will pass, the fluffy white snow will melt and the locusts will come again, he commented.