The Croatian Parliament's Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday endorsed a draft declaration on some aspects of cooperation between the judicial authorities of Croatia and Serbia and the final draft Penal Code.
The draft declaration says that by adopting legislation declaring its judicial bodies as having jurisdiction over criminal proceedings in cases of crimes committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia has encroached on Croatia's sovereignty and calls on Serbia to sign with Croatia an agreement regulating the issue of jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Administration Minister Davorin Mlakar said that he believed the new developments could best be resolved through negotiation and by signing an agreement defining the powers and scope of the two countries' judicial authorities so as to avoid any possibility of overlapping of powers of the two legal systems.
Mlakar said the declaration did not question Croatia's wish and intention to prosecute and punish, in line with its international obligations, the perpetrators of all war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on Croatia's territory.
Committee chair Ana Lovrin said Croatia had clearly shown and proven that it was capable of conducting trials.
Under the final draft Penal Code, the unjustified nonpayment of salaries in whole or in part will be treated as a criminal offence. The same principle will be applied to the nonpayment of contributions for salaries.
The final draft Penal Code now includes a provision under which one day in prison or one daily allowance in case of a fine is replaced by four instead of two hours of community service.
The statute of limitations for the gravest types of crime has been extended in the new Penal Code from 30 to 40 years.
The criminal act of illegal possession, making and trade in drugs has been redefined to include also illegal substances used in sports.
Under the draft Penal Code, reporters shall answer for defamation only in exceptional cases because their work is in the public's interest.
Lovrin said the provision under which no one can keep the financial gain obtained through unlawful activities should be reinforced to make sure no gain whatsoever obtained through unlawful activities could be kept.
