Lithuania: President urges harsher penalties for crimes against state

Lithuania’s President, Gitanas Nauseda, will propose stricter penalties for crimes against the state, BNS reports. The proposed amendments would introduce life sentences for organising or taking part in a coup. Currently, the maximum penalty for such an offense is 20 years in prison. Also, the president’s proposed legislation would introduce longer prison terms for being part of anti-constitutional and armed rebel groups, and for collecting classified information for foreign intelligence services. Nauseda said that the proposal was a response to Russia’s continued efforts to destabilise Lithuanian democracy. He noted that Belarus posed a similar threat.