President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said he opposes increasing the punishment for bribing state officials to up to 20 years of imprisonment along with property confiscation as he believes this is too severe a punishment relative to other crimes.

In response to e-petition No. 22/000048 on the president's official website which calls for an increase in punishment for bribery of high officials to up to 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole with the obligatory confiscation of property, Poroshenko said that according to Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, punishment for "taking a decision, promise or getting illegal profit by the official" stipulates punishment in the form of imprisonment of between 8 to 12 years with the deprival of the right to hold specific posts or work in a specific field for 3 years, along with property confiscation and special confiscation.

"As for today, according to the current legislation of Ukraine, the maximum term for imprisonment is 15 years for an especially grave crime, moreover combined with the intentional murder of people. The introduction of the amendment just of one article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on reinforcement of the punishment to state officials up to 20 years could not respond to the gravity of the criminal offence compared to other crimes foreseen by the criminal legislation of Ukraine," Poroshenko said.

"Not severity - inevitability has more influence on the level of bribery," he said.

The e-petition "On toughening punishment to state officials for bribery" was posted on the official website of the president of Ukraine on August 29, 2015 by citizen Marchenko V. As of October 8, it was signed by 29,736 citizens, with 25,000 being required for the president to consider it.