ZAGREB, Aug 6 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) has put forward a proposal to the Constitutional Court to establish if the amended Penal Code is constitutional, because it was not adopted by a majority of
votes, the Constitutional Court said on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, Aug 6 (Hina) - The Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights (HHO) has put forward a proposal to the Constitutional Court
to establish if the amended Penal Code is constitutional, because
it was not adopted by a majority of votes, the Constitutional Court
said on Wednesday. #L#
HHO president Zarko Puhovski said the Penal Code dealt with basic
human rights and that such laws had to be adopted by a majority of
votes of all members of parliament.
Since the law was passed by a mere 58 votes rather than by at least
76, the law is legally unconstitutional, Puhovski claimed.
Vladimir Seks of the leading opposition HDZ party has asked
President of the Republic Stjepan Mesic to use his constitutional
powers and initiate procedure before the Constitutional Court to
assess whether the amended Penal Code is constitutional since the
amendments were adopted by an insufficient number of votes.
Mesic responded by saying that he was considering the HDZ's
proposal, and recalled that such a request might also be submitted
to the Constitutional Court by one third of parliamentary deputies,
the government or parliamentary committees.
Seks told Hina last Friday that he would wait for the President's
response until the end of August, and if there was no response, such
a request would be filed by a third of parliamentary deputies.
The amended Penal Code was adopted in parliament on July 9. The
president of the republic signed the decision on the proclamation
of the law two days later, and the law was published on July 15 when
it went into force. The law will be applied as of December 1 this
year.
(hina) vm sb