The Committee on the Judiciary on Monday unanimously suggested that a draft Penal Code be endorsed in the first reading with Committee Chairwoman Ana Lovrin of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) saying that this was one of the most important political laws.
"The Penal Code is one of the most important political laws because it states what is desirable and what is undesirable behaviour and because it is most probably the most political law," Lovrin said.
The draft Penal Code was presented by Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic, who said that one of the novelties was that the new Penal Code classified the nonpayment of salaries due to unjustified reasons as a crime, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
The minister stressed this was not a blow to employers because the new law foresees sanctioning only of those employers who had funds to pay out salaries but failed to do so, and thus ensured illegal gain for themselves or others.
"This does not mean that every nonpayment of salaries would be classified as a crime," Bosnjakovic said
The new penal code introduces the longest prison term of 50 years instead of the current maximum 40 years for the most severe crimes. Some other novelties are punishment of between one and three years in prison for mobbing. In rape cases it is no longer necessary to prove that force was used and now it will be sufficient to prove that the intercourse was not consensual.
Some other crimes to be added to the new penal code are acts of violence in the family or reckless driving.
The draft includes the provision from the existing penal code qualifying drug possession as a criminal act.
