Minister Habijan: Serious environmental crime, ecocide, is being introduced

Minister Damir Habijan made a press statement after the government session, announcing extensive amendments to the Criminal Code

It is a broader package of six laws that includes the introduction of life sentence as well as a new environmental crime, the so-called ecocide, and drastically stricter penalties for causing fire and environmental pollution.

‘We took this opportunity to introduce a new crime, particularly serious environmental crime, colloquially known as ecocide," the Minister said.

In addition to the introduction of a new criminal offence, the Act on Liability of Legal Persons is also to be amended.

It is proposed to drastically increase fines for companies from the current 20 million euros, i.e. 25 million euros for a criminal association, to as much as 50 million euros.

The tightening of the penal policy in the part of general security was prompted by tragic events and a heavy fire season that has resulted in human casualties and great material damage.

The proposed changes increase the penalty for public safety endangerment, such as inciting fires, floods or explosions, from the current range of six months to five years’s imprisonment to a range of one to ten years’ imprisonment.

If the consequence is severe material damage, the penalties should range between three and 15 years’ imprisonment.

For the most serious forms of these crimes, which result in deaths or injuries of a larger number of people, the envisaged penalty ranges from a minimum of five years’ to long-term imprisonment.

‘When we introduce the life sentence, the perpetrators of such most serious crimes with such severe consequences will be able to be sentenced by the courts to life imprisonment’, he said.

The plan is for the entire legal package to be presented to the Government on September 10, followed by a regular parliamentary procedure.

Referring to the case of the extradition of former head of Croatian Ski Association Vedran Pavlek from Kazakhstan, Minister Habijan explained that the Croatian judiciary had done its part and that the documentation had been forwarded through the Ministry.

‘We are still awaiting the decision of the Kazakh authorities. At first instance, extradition is decided by their Prosecutor General, while any appeals are decided by the Supreme Court and that decision is then final’, Minister Habijan concluded.

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