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Wiesbaden (dpa / lhe) - Hessen wants to punish the forgery of vaccination certificates and other health certificates more severely.

To this end, the state has launched an initiative to amend the penal code.

It is to be discussed at the Justice Ministers' Conference in the summer.

"If people play with the health of others or even do business with them, this is morally reprehensible and must be severely punished," said Hesse's Justice Minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU) in Wiesbaden on Wednesday.

Legally, false certificates or falsified vaccination passports fall under falsification of documents.

There is a risk of imprisonment for up to five years.

In the health sector, however, the offenders would be punished more leniently, criticized the ministry.

These «criminal policy-failure mitigations» are no longer acceptable.

"Against the background of the ongoing corona pandemic, there is an urgent need for action to enable the perpetrators to be punished in a manner appropriate to the injustice that has been committed and the threats threatening."

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210505-99-475373 / 2