Croatia

[HR] Amendments to the Criminal Code

IRIS 2006-7:1/25

Nives Zvonarić

Ministry of Culture, Zagreb, Croatia

The issue of libel is regulated by Section 200 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Croatia. Paragraph 2 of the above Section stipulates that a person who makes or publishes a false statement about another person that may cause harm to the character or reputation of the other person, whether the statement is made before several other people, or published in the press or broadcast on radio or television, or made at a public gathering or in some other way which results in making it available to a large number of people, shall be punished by a fine or a sentence of a maximum term of one year’s imprisonment.

At the moment the Croatian Parliament is discussing the amendments to the Criminal Code, and the Government of the Republic of Croatia has put forward its amendment to the above Section 200 of the Criminal Code proposing that the words ''or a sentence of a maximum term of one year’s imprisonment'' be deleted from the provisions of the Code. The above amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted on 9 June 2006.