ZAGREB, May 30 (Hina) - The Social Liberals (HSLS) in Croatia's parliament urged the government on Friday to withdraw a decree on national security commitments for legal and physical persons in telecommunications, claiming the decree
was an attempt to establish a police state.
ZAGREB, May 30 (Hina) - The Social Liberals (HSLS) in Croatia's
parliament urged the government on Friday to withdraw a decree on
national security commitments for legal and physical persons in
telecommunications, claiming the decree was an attempt to
establish a police state. #L#
Addressing reporters in parliament, party MP Mario Kovac said the
decree deeply encroached upon the delicate issue of human rights
and civil freedoms behind an unattractive name.
Kovac said the decree obliged all legal and physical persons
offering telecommunications services to listen in on telephone
conversations, purchase phone tapping equipment at their own cost,
and record all conversations.
Telecommunications companies would have to ensure control over all
telephone calls and all data pertaining to them, as well as data on
the current location of a phone, which would in effect constitute
tailing citizens by locating their cellular phone, said Kovac.
According to Dorica Nikolic, HSLS secretary-general, the decree
indisputably impinges on human rights and clashes with the
Constitution. The Constitution stipulates that civil liberties are
restricted solely to protect national security and for the needs of
court proceedings through laws which, under the Constitution,
parliament adopts by a majority vote, she said.
"Is Croatia slowly turning into a police state, with the parliament
as an ornament despite swearing by parliamentarism?" the HSLS bench
inquired.
The bench will put to parliament a conclusion which would bind the
government to scrap the decree. If the parliamentary majority
rejects the conclusion, the HSLS bench will demand the decree be
debated on a plenary parliamentary session and by competent
parliamentary committees.
(hina) ha sb