National penalties - life imprisonment

Estonia

Estonia - Penal Code 2001 (2020) EN

Part 1 GENERAL PART
Chapter 3 TYPES AND TERMS OF PUNISHMENTS
Division 1 Principal Punishments Imposed for Criminal Offences

§ 45. Imprisonment
(1) For a criminal offence, the court may impose imprisonment for a term of thirty days to twenty years, or life imprisonment.
(2) Imprisonment for a term of more than ten years or life imprisonment shall not be imposed on a person who at the time of commission of the criminal offence is less than eighteen years of age.

Part 1 GENERAL PART
Chapter 5 RELEASE FROM PUNISHMENT

§ 77. Release on parole in case of life imprisonment
(1) If a person has been sentenced to life imprisonment, the court may release the person on parole if the offender has actually served at least twenty-five years of the term of the punishment.
(2) When releasing a person specified in subsection (1) of this section on parole, the provisions of subsection 76 (4) of this Code shall be taken into consideration.
(3) Probation shall be ordered for a period of five to ten years and during at least three years of this probation the offender shall be subjected to supervision of conduct provided for in § 75 of this Code.
(3.1) If an offender fails, during a period of probation, to comply with supervisory requirements, perform the obligations imposed on him or her or fails to submit to electronic surveillance, a probation officer may issue a written notice cautioning him or her or the court may impose additional obligations to the offender according to the provisions of subsection 75 (2) of this Code, extend the term of supervision taking into consideration the term provided for in subsection (3) of this section, or enforce the punishment.
(4) If a person commits a new intentional criminal offence during a period of probation, he or she shall be ordered to serve the sentence of life imprisonment.

Part 1 GENERAL PART
Chapter 6 LIMITATION PERIODS

§ 81. Limitation period of offence
(2) Crimes of aggression, crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and criminal offences for which life imprisonment is prescribed do not expire.

Part 1 GENERAL PART
Chapter 6 LIMITATION PERIODS

§ 82. Limitation period for execution of judgment or decision
(3) The limitation period for execution of a conviction does not expire if life imprisonment has been imposed as punishment.

Part 2 SPECIAL PART
Chapter 8 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Division 2 Offences Against Humanity

§ 89. Crimes against humanity
(1) Systematic or large-scale deprivation or restriction of human rights and freedoms, instigated or directed by a state, organisation or group, or killing, torture, rape, causing health damage, forced displacement, expulsion, subjection to prostitution, unfounded deprivation of liberty, or other abuse of civilians, is punishable by eight to twenty years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment.
(2) The same act, if committed by a legal person, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.

Part 2 SPECIAL PART
Chapter 8 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Division 2 Offences Against Humanity

§ 90. Genocide
(1) Killing or torturing, with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, of members of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, a group resisting occupation or any other social group, causing of health damage to members of the group, imposing of coercive measures preventing childbirth within the group or forcibly transferring of children of the group, or subjecting of members of such group to living conditions which have caused the risk of total or partial physical destruction of the group,
is punishable by eight to twenty years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment.
(2) The same act, if committed by a legal person, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.

Part 2 SPECIAL PART
Chapter 8 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Division 3 Offences Against Peace

§ 91. Crimes of aggression
(1) Participation in the management, execution or preparation of an act of aggression by any person controlling or directing the activities of the state or threatening with an act of aggression by a representative of the state is punishable by eight to twenty years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment.
(2) The same act, if committed by a legal person, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.
(3) For the purposes of this Code, an act of aggression is the use of armed forced by one state in conflict with international law against another state.

§ 92. Propaganda for war
(1) Any incitement to war or other use of arms in violation of the generally recognised principles of international law is punishable by a pecuniary punishment or up to three years’ imprisonment.
(2) the same act, if committed by a legal person, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.

§ 93. Development and handling of prohibited weapons
(1) Designing, manufacturing, storing, acquiring, handing over, selling or providing or offering for use in any other manner of a chemical, biological or bacteriological weapon or any other internationally prohibited weapon of mass destruction or other weapon, or essential components thereof,
is punishable by three to twelve years’ imprisonment.
(2) The same act, if committed by a legal person, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.

Part 2 SPECIAL PART
Chapter 8 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Division 4 War Crimes

§ 97. Attacks against civilians
(2) Killing of a civilian in a war zone or in an occupied territory or commission of the act provided for in subsection (1) of this section with respect to him or her, if this:
1) causes the death of the victim; or
2) leads the victim to suicide or an attempt of suicide,
is punishable by eight to twenty years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment.
(3) An act provided for in subsection (1) or (2) of this section, if committed by a legal person, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.

Part 2 SPECIAL PART
Chapter 8 OFFENCES AGAINST HUMANITY AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
Division 4 War Crimes

§ 99. Attacks against prisoners
(1) Commission of an act of violence against a prisoner of a hostile party, including a prisoner of war or an interned civilian, or threatening with it, endangering of him or her or failure to provide assistance to him or her, compelling him or her to participate in human research or to supply organs or tissue, inhuman treatment of him or her, commission of an offence against sexual self-determination with respect to him or her, compelling him or her to serve in armed forces or deprivation of his or her right to fair trial, and unjustified delay in his or her release or repatriation, is punishable by six to fifteen years’ imprisonment.
(2) The same act, if it:
1) causes the death of the victim; or
2) leads the victim to suicide or an attempt of suicide,
is punishable by eight to twenty years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment.
(3) An act provided for in subsection (1) or (2) of this section, if committed by a legal person,
is punishable by a pecuniary punishment.

Rome Statute

Article 77 Applicable penalties

1. Subject to article 110, the Court may impose one of the following penalties on a person convicted of a crime referred to in article 5 of this Statute:

(a) Imprisonment for a specified number of years, which may not exceed a maximum of 30 years; or

(b) A term of life imprisonment when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime and the individual circumstances of the convicted person.