diff --git a/docs/admin/configuration/intelmq.md b/docs/admin/configuration/intelmq.md
index c82bb08fe..941722f84 100644
--- a/docs/admin/configuration/intelmq.md
+++ b/docs/admin/configuration/intelmq.md
@@ -237,6 +237,13 @@ configured to do so.
 
 (optional, boolean) Verify the TLS certificate of the server. Defaults to true.
 
+**`stop_retry_limit`**
+
+(optional, integer) amount of retries when checking the status of a botnet after issuing `intelmqctl stop`. Each retry
+another *0.1s* longer is waited until a maximum of *5s* to sleep in each iteration is reached. Only applies when
+stopping a bot*net* (not individual bots).
+Defaults to 5.
+
 #### Individual Bot Configuration
 
 !!! info
diff --git a/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py b/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py
index 49f002e37..26f15a31e 100644
--- a/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py
+++ b/intelmq/bin/intelmqctl.py
@@ -563,12 +563,38 @@ def botnet_stop(self, group=None):
         for bot_id in bots:
             self.bot_stop(bot_id, getstatus=False)
 
-        retval = 0
-        time.sleep(0.75)
-        for bot_id in bots:
-            botnet_status[bot_id] = self.bot_status(bot_id)[1]
-            if botnet_status[bot_id] not in ['stopped', 'disabled']:
-                retval = 1
+        # shallow copy of the list suffices
+        # only aliasing the list to ease reading the following
+        stopped_but_still_running_bots = bots
+
+        retries = getattr(self._parameters, 'stop_retry_limit', 5)
+
+        # parameters (default):
+        # - sleep 0.75 s with an increment of 0.1
+        # - at most 5 tries
+        # => sleep-ing at most 4.75 seconds
+        sleep_time = 0.75  # in seconds
+        for _ in range(retries):
+            # give the bots some time to terminate
+            time.sleep(sleep_time)
+            # update the botnet_status
+            for bot_id in stopped_but_still_running_bots:
+                botnet_status[bot_id] = self.bot_status(bot_id)[1]
+                if botnet_status[bot_id] in ['stopped', 'disabled']:
+                    stopped_but_still_running_bots.remove(bot_id)
+
+            # check if all bots are stopped -> no need to wait further
+            if len(stopped_but_still_running_bots) == 0:
+                break
+            # the longer the bots need to terminate the longer we wait to check
+            # again to avoid long-term load on the system
+            # but stop at 5 seconds to avoid waiting too long until rechecking
+            # the status
+            sleep_time = min(5, sleep_time + 0.1)
+
+        retval = 1
+        if len(stopped_but_still_running_bots) == 0:
+            retval = 0
 
         self.log_botnet_message('stopped', group)
         return retval, botnet_status