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Proposed tougher human-smuggling penalties raise legal concerns
🇵🇱 Poland /Crime & Justice

Proposed tougher human-smuggling penalties raise legal concerns

From Rzeczpospolita · () Polish

Translated from Polish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

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  • Poland’s Justice Ministry has proposed aggravated human-smuggling offenses carrying prison terms of up to 20 years when a migrant dies.
  • National Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk argues that the proposed maximum should be reduced to 15 years to align with penalties for other intentional offenses resulting in death.
  • Korneluk and the Supreme Court also criticize wording that could punish non-direct or minor health risks and potentially conflict with the constitutional requirement for precise criminal law.

Poland’s proposed crackdown on human smuggling could punish some cases more severely than other intentional crimes that result in a person’s death, prompting objections from the national prosecutor and the Supreme Court.

The Justice Ministry presented the proposal in July. Current rules under Article 264 of the Criminal Code provide up to three years in prison for illegally crossing the border and up to eight years for organizers. The draft would introduce aggravated forms of human smuggling. Acting for financial or personal gain could carry up to 10 years. Exposing many people to danger to their lives or health could bring two to 12 years, while a death resulting from the smuggling operation could lead to three to 20 years in prison.

The provision should use the criterion of direct danger of loss of life or serious harm to health.

— Dariusz KornelukThe national prosecutor argues that the draft should target direct and serious risks rather than minor or indirect injuries.

National Prosecutor Dariusz Korneluk says the punishment for a death under the proposed Article 264, paragraph 3c, should instead range from two to 15 years. He points to other intentional offenses that do not aim to kill but result in death, including participation in a fight, causing a land-transport disaster, or causing a fire. In those cases, the maximum prison sentence is 15 years.

Korneluk also objects to a provision allowing up to 10 years for exposing many people to danger. He says the wording does not require the danger to be direct and could cover any health injury, including a minor one. The provision is intended to address serious and immediate risks, such as transporting people in tightly sealed refrigerated truck compartments, he argues. It should not also cover a completely safe route across the border where someone might trip and sprain an ankle. The Supreme Court’s Office of Studies and Analyses has similarly warned that the draft may breach the constitutional principle requiring criminal provisions to set clear boundaries between permitted and prohibited conduct.

Criminal law must set clear boundaries between what is permitted and what is prohibited.

— Supreme Court Office of Studies and AnalysesThe Supreme Court body criticizes the draft’s wording as potentially inconsistent with the constitutional requirement for precise criminal provisions.
About this summary

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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