Opposition slams proposed amendments to the Criminal Code

Government's proposed amendments to the Criminal Code entered into their second reading in parliament on Wednesday. The proposed changes however, came under heavy fire from the opposition on both sides of the aisle over an amendment that would criminalize the leaking of information from investigative proceedings.

The opposition maintains that the sole intention of the law is to intimidate journalists and prevent them from reporting on the corruption scandals surrounding the HDZ and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in a year in which Croatia will hold parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as elections for European Parliament. The president of the largest center-left opposition party, Peđa Grbin of the SDP: “This law is meant to stifle the freedom of the press. This law is an attempt to hide the HDZ's theft.”

The head of the center-right Sovereigntist’s Party, Marijan Pavliček, agreed with this assessment and added: “How many scandals would never have seen the light of day, were it not for the media? They would have remained in the drawers of the Chief State Prosecutor's Office that is under your control, or in various departments in USKOK.”

However, the HDZ has responded that most countries have similar or even stricter laws, with Justice and Administration Minister Ivan Malenica noting that the amendment is not meant to serve as an attack on the media and that it ensures that journalists cannot be prosecuted for the offense in question. He went on to say however, that the unauthorized publication of information threatens the presumption of innocence: “We want to ensure that proceedings are conducted before the courts and not in the court of public opinion. So that we don't have a situation where on the basis of certain information a person is presumed guilty even before the proceeding has begun.”

The parliamentary majority added that an additional security feature is the public interest for the publication of information. However, Davor Dretar of the Homeland Movement asks how exactly the public interest will be established: “Are you going to issue some kind of handbook so that we can decide who and how we will define the public interest?”

The concern being that the Chief State Prosecutor's Office will ultimately determine what's in the public interest, which is now under the control of Ivan Turudić, who the opposition say is himself compromised due to recent revelations that have him meeting privately with former Dinamo football boss Zdravko Mamić, who has been convicted of white collar crimes, as well as with former HDZ official, Josipa Rimac, who is currently facing corruption charges.

The opposition went on to remind the parliamentary majority that the Council of Europe itself has warned about the potential dangers that the amendments, which the opposition have dubbed "Lex AP", represent to investigative journalism. Reformists MP Natalija Martinčević: “In its annual report on the freedom of the press, the Council of Europe noted that the Croatian Government is trying to curtail the right of the media to protect its sources and criticizes courts and prosecutors.”

“And you won't believe this, but the report puts a special emphasis on 'LexAP',” added Social Democrat MP Domagoj Hajduković.

Minister Malenica responded that the Council of Europe was referring to a draft law on the media that was never even entered into parliamentary procedure, and concluded that existing amendments have enough checks and balances to be beyond reproach.

Source: HRT