Other events in Baltic States

The Estonian Riigikogu approved on Thursday of a law that takes over the European Parliament's directive against sexual abuse of minors and toughens several punishments for crimes of that nature, reports LETA Riigikogu press service.

While so far, there was no minimum punishment level set for sexual crimes against minors and the maximum punishment was five years of imprisonment, in the future, the punishment will be 2-8 years of prison. In case of a repeated crime, 3-8 years of imprisonment.

The law also stipulates a clear ban on buying sex from a minor. The punishment will be up to 3 years of prison and in case the act was committed against a child younger than 14 years, 5 years of prison. It is the task of the person who wishes to buy services of that nature to ascertain the real age of the person.

The law also makes it a criminal office to knowingly observe child porn on the Internet.

The law expands the circle of people working with kids with whom the employer has to make sure in advance that the new employee wouldn’t have been punished for sexual crimes.

In order to take over the European Parliament and Council directive on sexual abuse and taking sexual advantage of children and fight against child porn, 12 Estonian laws had to be amended.