The Legal Committee decided to provide the same protection for sexual offenses against children aged 15 and 16 as those under the age of 14. Amendments to the Penal Code (PC), introduced by MPs from “DPS-New Beginning”, have been adopted.
The bill provides for imprisonment of up to six years and a fine of up to five thousand leva for the distribution of pornographic material to a person under the age of 16.
For indecent assault on a person under the age of 16, the penalty is imprisonment from five to twenty years.
The proposal of Bozhidar Bozhanov and Nadezhda Yordanova from “We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria” to criminalize the creation of pornographic content with artificial intelligence, including instructions and models designed for this purpose, was not accepted.
The Committee adopted four bills at first reading to amend the PC related to increasing penalties for sexual offenses against children.