MOSCOW, April 5 (RAPSI) – The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, passed in the third reading on Wednesday a bill introducing criminal punishment for falsification of evidence in administrative cases.

The bill would amend Part 1 of Article 303 of the Russian Criminal Code (Forging evidence in civil cases).

Under the bill, parties to administrative cases, their lawyers, officials authorized to consider such cases and officials authorized to execute protocols on administrative offences would face criminal liability for tampering with evidence.

However, sanctions stipulated by the Criminal Code’s Article will remain the same. Falsification of evidence would be punished with fines ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 rubles ($1,800 – 5,300), community service from 480 hours to 2 years or detention for up to 4 months.

The bill has been drafted for filling gaps in the Criminal Code of Russia. Currently, the said Code’s Article does not prescribe punishment for evidence forgery in administrative cases, an explanatory note to the document reads.