finement. They may deprive an individual of the right to
occupy certain governmental or public positions, of the right to
practice certain professions or activities, of the right to residence in
a specified place, or of the right to earn decorations and awards. If he
is on duty with the military, a court may remove his rank. It may also
administer a public reprimand, alone or in combination with another type
of punishment. The sentence, however, should be within the upper and
lower limits in the amounts of fines or the time period for which the
other sentences may apply. Such limits are set down in the code.

The death penalty is never a mandatory sentence in peacetime. It is
optional for a considerable number of crimes, but it is handed down only
if the circumstances of a particular crime that is before the court are
exceptionally serious. When the maximum sentence is deprivation of
freedom and does not include a possible death sentence, the duration of
the sentence will be no longer than fifteen years. If the maximum
sentence can be death, twenty years deprivation of freedom may be
substituted for execution.

The stipulated sentences for crimes against the state tend to be more
severe than sentences for crimes against individuals. Theft of public
property is punishable by confinement of up to eight years, of private
property by no more than three years. Robbery involving public property
may result in a sentence of from three to ten years; if it involves
private property, the range is from three to eight years.

Although the individual's rights appear to have more than ample
safeguards, the situation may be less utopian than the wording of the
criminal code would suggest. For example, a 1973 amendment to the laws
pertaining to personal property states that "when a citizen is found to
possess more property than he could reasonably have acquired from his
regular income, he is considered to have acquired it illegally unless he
can prove to the contrary."

Courts

All of the formal judicial machinery of the country is within the
governmental organization under the Ministry of Justice, but special
courts--such as those of the military establishment--may be administered
separately and independently in their lower echelons. Although the
ministry serves as a part of the executive branch of the government, as
the interpreter of laws it can check upon their compatibility with the
constitution and other legislation. It mig