MOSCOW, October 9 (Itar-Tass) — A bill suggesting to administer a sentence of up to six years in prison for illegal amber deals has been submitted to the State Duma for approval. The authors of the bill are deputies of the Kaliningrad regional Duma.
Illegal amber production has spread rather widely in the Kaliningrad region. Criminal proceedings into the fact of illegal development of natural resources are instituted, as a rule, on charges envisaged in Article 171 of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal entrepreneurship), while punishment for illegal amber deals under article 255 of the Criminal Code(violation of the rules of protection and use of earth bowls) is impossible at present, the authors of the bill said. They suggested amending the Criminal Code so as to introduce a system of punishment for illegal production and sale of illicit amber.
If criminal deals with amber bring huge profits the proposed bill envisages a fine worth from 100,000 to 300,000 roubles or equal to a convict's overall salary earned for one or two years, compulsory labor from 160 to 240 hours, corrective labor for a term from six month to one year, or arrest from two to four months.
Similar criminal activities committed by an organized group carry a fine worth from 500,000 roubles to one million roubles or equal to the overall wages, a convict earned during three to five years, or a prison term up to six years. The authors of the amended bill specified that revenues from illegal amber production which exceed 50,000 roubles fall under a category of a heavy profit, and revenues exceeding 150,000 roubles -under a category of a particularly heavy profit.