Anyone who tries to defraud the authorities with a forged vaccination certificate is currently punished rather laxly. Hamburg now wants to enforce tougher sanctions.
Hamburg * – Someone who manipulates the health certificate for his dog is currently punished more severely than a person who presents a forged vaccination certificate to the authorities. Hamburg’s Justice Senator Anna Gallina (Greens) sees a need for action and calls for the falsification of vaccination and PCR test certificates to be equated with forgery of documents in order to be able to punish offenses more severely.
Because so far the forgery of health certificates has been treated differently in criminal law than the forgery of documents, according to the Senator. “The range of penalties is much lower in the corresponding cases and the criminal offense contains further inconsistencies.”
False vaccination records are sold on the Internet
In an application to the Justice Ministers’ Conference in June, Hamburg therefore wanted to call on the federal government to review the applicable regulations. Gallina: “The aim must be to equate false health certificates and forgery and to check the regulations for reform.”
Against the background of the elimination of corona restrictions for fully vaccinated people – such as in Hamburg * and Bremen *, fake vaccination passports are being offered for sale on the Internet *. In Lower Saxony, the State Criminal Police Office is already warning that fake vaccination passports are in circulation *. Since it is a false health certificate, the penal code provides for a maximum of one year imprisonment.
Harsher penalties for false vaccination certificates: up to ten years in prison
Particularly difficult cases, such as gang or commercial inspection, are not provided. Even the attempt remains unpunished. The situation is different with forgery of documents, which in particularly serious cases can be punished with up to ten years imprisonment.
The Hamburg authority criticizes the different classifications of the various corona test certificates that show the absurdity of the current legal situation. For example, the company corona test certificates * that can be used for visits to the hairdresser * and events and a large part of the rapid tests * do not constitute health certificates because they are not issued by doctors. A forgery would therefore be a forgery of documents. The falsification of PCR tests and vaccination certificates, which offer more security and should be presented to an authority, is not. * 24hamburg.de and nordbuzz.de and Kreiszeitung.de are offered by IPPEN.MEDIA.
List of rubric lists: © Andreas Arnold
