Turkey to toughen criminal penalties for treason and espionage“/>
A bill on toughening criminal penalties for criminal acts committed in favor of a foreign state has been submitted to the Grand National Assembly (Parliament) of Turkey.
As Day.Az reports with reference to AZERTAC, the bill developed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) involves changes to 22 articles of the Criminal Code, providing for crimes committed on Turkish territory in favor of a foreign state, including espionage.
At the same time, a new article is being introduced into the section of the Turkish Criminal Code “Crimes against state secrets and espionage”, which provides penalties for acts that threaten internal stability, as well as domestic and foreign policy in favor of the strategic interests of foreign states or organizations. Such crimes will be punishable by criminal penalties ranging from three to 7 years in prison.
If the crime of treason is committed by employees of strategically important structures or personnel of projects of special significance, the term of criminal punishment is doubled.
Note that in the current version of the Turkish Criminal Code, the maximum penalty for espionage for a foreign state is 5 years in prison.
Chairman of the AKP parliamentary faction Abdullah Güler said in this regard that the purpose of the changes is to increase the effectiveness of the fight against persons collaborating with foreign intelligence services against the interests of Turkey.