ZAGREB, June 18 (Hina) - The Croatian government forwarded to parliament a bill on preventing incidents at sport contests, suggesting that the bill be sent into emergency procedure. Also proposed were punishments for perpetrators,
measures which would prevent violent behaviour and strict penalties.
ZAGREB, June 18 (Hina) - The Croatian government forwarded to
parliament a bill on preventing incidents at sport contests,
suggesting that the bill be sent into emergency procedure. Also
proposed were punishments for perpetrators, measures which would
prevent violent behaviour and strict penalties. #L#
Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac believes penalties are too mild.
"Detention between three and 30 days for perpetrators of violent
acts at sports games is a too mild measure," said the minister,
adding that ten years in prison was the only way to prevent violent
behaviour.
He proposed that video surveillance be installed in the audience so
that police could later analyse the tapes and sanction the
perpetrators of violent acts.
Interior Minister Sime Lucin says all sports event of high risk are
already being taped. He suggests that recordings from sports
matches be allowed in courts as evidence.
The interior minister says the practice in western countries is
that police give fines on the spot, while the practice in Croatia is
to transfer those cases to petty offence courts.
Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic stresses other laws need to be
amended in order to prevent the perpetrators of violent act to
attend sports events. He says changes are necessary to the law on
passport, under which passports could temporary be taken from fans,
who already known to police for their violent behaviour, during
great sports events abroad.
Government members agreed that organisers of sports events, clubs-
hosts and clubs-guests should assume greater responsibility. They
also unanimously condemned perpetrators of violent acts and
incidents, saying they were causing harm to Croatia's reputation,
its sports and athletes.
Defence Minister Zeljka Antunovic reminded about the latest
incident in Slovenia's Kranj, during the European waterpolo
championship finals between Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro. "I
was ashamed to come from a country from which a group of such
hooligans is from. I was embarrassed personally, as well as on
behalf of Croatia and the players," said the minister. She said she
attended the game and added that everything looked much worse live
than on TV.
Granic says it is important to create an atmosphere in which the
society would condemn everything that represents hooliganism and
incidents. He says that stands of sports associations and clubs
were also important.
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