The third meeting of the “Permanent Joint Mechanism” established within the framework of the Tripartite Memorandum between Turkey, Sweden and Finland was held at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Stenström, who held a press conference afterwards, stated that the Swedish government has taken concrete steps against the terrorist organization PKK and said, “The connection between serious organized crime and financing of terrorism is a trouble for our country. Therefore, the Swedish authorities are taking concrete steps. The government has submitted a draft criminal law to the parliament today. The authorities intensified their work especially against terrorism and the PKK.” said.
Stating that the Permanent Joint Mechanism meeting went well and they made progress, Stenström added that the current parliament in Turkey would not comment on whether to approve Sweden’s NATO membership application.
New penal bill
In the draft law, which aims to criminalize membership in terrorist organizations in the country, people who participate in terrorist activities and cooperate with terrorist organizations are sentenced to up to 4 years in prison.
According to the bill, those who participate in activities with the intent to support, strengthen or encourage a terrorist organization can be sentenced to a maximum of 4 years in prison.
If there are aggravating reasons, the penalty for these crimes will be a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 8 years in prison.
Those who are involved in crimes such as weapons, ammunition, flammable and explosive materials, transportation support, renting land and property to the terrorist organization can be sentenced to up to 4 years in prison.
If there are aggravating reasons for these crimes, an additional prison sentence of 1.5 years to 7 years is foreseen.
The bill gives authorities much broader powers to detain and prosecute people who finance or otherwise support terrorist organizations.