According to the draft, calumny will be punishable by fine, while slanderers may face a prison term of up to one year, apart from pecuniary penalties.
The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) president, Zdenko Duka, said that journalists were in favour of preserving the existing provisions regulating punishment for defamation.
He said that in the last 20 years, no one had been sent to prison for slander and wondered why a possibility for imprisonment for slander was now being introduced when there was more writing about crime.
This is not just about the restriction of journalistic freedom, but this will turn into a political issue, Duka said.
The head of the working group in charge of elaborating the draft, Ksenija Turkovic, said that the working group was free from any political influence and that imprisonment is stipulated for slander in all European countries.
According to Turkovic, the draft differentiates between slander and calumny because in the case of suspected calumny the accused person will be acquitted if they prove that the statement they conveyed is true or that they had reasons to believe that it was true. As a result, reporters will be in a more favourable position, Turkovic said.
The fine for defamation will be reduced from 360 to 180 daily incomes, according to the new bill.
Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic said that the existing penal code had been amended 11 times since its adoption in 1997 and that it no longer served its purpose.