A lack of quorum on Tuesday prevented the parliamentary Legislation Committee from taking a position on a decision to change the Constitution to lift the statute of limitations on political murders, as moved by 46 MPs of the ruling coalition.
The committee "voted," with chair Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) saying five were "for" the decision and moved on to the next item on the agenda.
Reporters, however, insisted she say how many committee members were against and how many abstained. Anticevic Marinovic said there was no quorum and that the vote could take place when conditions allowed it.
The SDP-sponsored motion to change the Constitution was presented by Pedja Grbin, chair of the Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and the Political System. He said the aim was to introduce into the Constitution a stipulation that there is no statute of limitations on first degree murder committed for political motives.
Davorin Mlakar of the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) dismissed the motion, saying it was a pointless attempt to "delude experts and the public in general."
He reminded the ruling deputies of Brussels' proposal to impose sanctions against Croatia for failing to align its European Arrest Warrant (EAW) legislation, saying they could have moved amendments to the law on judicial cooperation in criminal matters with European Union countries in fast track procedure.
Anticevic Marinovic said the SDP motion enabled enforcing the EAW and "doing justice" by preventing those who committed "those crimes" to sleep peacefully.
