BELGRADE, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- In the following month Serbia plans to initiate changes in its criminal policy in order to impose stricter sanctions against perpetrators of heaviest criminal acts such as multiple homicides and child murder, President Aleksandar Vucic announced at a press conference on Saturday.
The government stated in a press release that senior officials attended a session of the National Security Council, the topic of which being the establishment of systemic, comprehensive measures against criminality and corruption, mostly related to a more stricter penal code.
Addressing the public after a meeting of the National Security Council, Vucic said Serbia will introduce lifetime imprisonment in its criminal policy.
He announced a long term fight against criminality in which Serbia plans to crush criminals and introduce stricter sanctions than those in the European Union (EU).
According to Vucic, the proposals of concrete measures will soon enter parliamentary procedure in order to be adopted, while "everything will start to change in one month."
Measures will include a 35-50 percent increase of sanctions for violent behavior - from family violence to murder. Vucic explained that the punishment for rape will be from 5 to 15 years, while murder will cost perpetrators 10-20 years in prison.
Moreover, Vucic insisted that in the future all trials will have to end within one year. He criticized the current criminal policy which has so far been delivering minimal sentences for heaviest criminal acts.
"Sentences over 5 years became more of an exception, as if they (legal system) do not care if children are being killed, that criminals own taverns, restaurants, and gather celebrities around them," Vucic said assuring that the fight against criminality will last for years.
He praised Friday's police operation which resulted in the arrest of some 150 suspects for heavy criminal acts, saying it shows clear intention of the state to defeat heaviest forms of criminality and corruption. However, he concluded that the solution requires a more comprehensive approach.
