ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - The editorial of the latest issue of the Glas Koncila Catholic weekly says that several of the government's latest bills, including one of amendments to the Penal Code, clearly indicate a desire to introduce
stricter penalties for certain criminal acts and reveal the political will to punish certain types of crimes more appropriately.
ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - The editorial of the latest issue of the Glas
Koncila Catholic weekly says that several of the government's
latest bills, including one of amendments to the Penal Code,
clearly indicate a desire to introduce stricter penalties for
certain criminal acts and reveal the political will to punish
certain types of crimes more appropriately. #L#
The editorial headlined "Where is the Government Directing
Croatia?" urges endorsing a proposal on a new treatment of slander,
as the previous solution "enabled non-ethical journalists to
consciously place untruths in public, i.e. slander some persons
without being held accountable for it".
Glas Koncila says the proposal to make "exposing the President of
the Republic to ridicule" a crime poses the question whether verbal
offence is being reintroduced in Croatia's new legislation, namely
if such a provision is appropriate for a democratic, pluralistic
and multiparty system, particularly in light of the fact that the
law already says slander is a crime.
The editorial also mentions proposals to ban the use of former
fascist insignia. From "the point of view of the common good or the
national interest of the Croatian people, especially from the
perspective of real democracy, it is certainly imperative to
radically reject everything smacking of fascism, Nazism, the
Ustasha and Chetnik ideologies, and communism, because these are
the principal evils which through history cost the Croatian people
very dearly."
"Even at the time of NDH (Independent State of Croatia, 1941-5), the
majority of the Croatian people was not infected with either
fascism or Nazism, and is even less so today, so the authorities, in
intending to introduce fascism-related criminal acts, should take
into account the kind of picture of contemporary Croatian citizens
they are sending into the world, a considerable part of which still
believes what the Greater Serbia propaganda has been feeding them
for decades. The question also arises if Croatia would not be more
democratic, in itself and in the picture before the world, if
manifestations of fascism, Nazism, the Ustasha and Chetnik
ideologies, and communism were given identical criminal treatment"
the editorial read.
(hina) ha sb