
The government is rushing to replace the Criminal Code, but the damage is irreparable
The government plans to quickly amend the controversial articles of the Criminal Code, which have made key cases against former officials obsolete, and will not wait for the opinion of the European Commission and the adoption of the new Criminal Code, which has been prepared for years by a working group led by an academic. Vlado Kambovski.
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The Ministry of Justice is, in fact, working on a "short legal solution" to restore the criminal offenses related to "abuse of official position and authority" that were abolished by the amendments enacted in September 2023 and which amnestied many accused officials.
– The Ministry of Justice is working on a short legal solution for amendments to the Criminal Code, which should remove the harmful consequences of the legal amendments to the Criminal Code from 2023. The tendency is to improve the provisions on legal entities and tighten the penal policy by increasing the existing penalties for the criminal offenses of “abuse of official position and authority”. It is also planned to expand the scope of criminal offenses for extended confiscation, as well as incorporate some new criminal offenses that are a result of modern society and technology. However, a fully formed legal solution for this will be presented to the Government very soon – the Ministry of Justice told “Sloboden Pechat”.
The existing law will be changed.
The Ministry claims that this is not a new version of the Criminal Code, but only amendments to the existing one.
– As for the novelties that could be expected in the Criminal Code, these will be changes that will modernize and improve existing procedures, as well as clarify and regulate in detail certain criminal offenses. One of the key issues is the improvement of sanctions for serious crime, especially for economic crime and corruption, which is in line with the efforts to combat corruption and organized crime. In addition, there are new criminal offenses related to financial crimes, including the practice of confiscating property acquired through criminal offenses, which will contribute to greater effectiveness in the fight against corruption and organized crime – say the Ministry of Justice.
The new Criminal Code drafted by the working group, as explained by the Ministry, still awaits the opinion of the European Commission, and then to be incorporated into Macedonian legislation.
The short and quick changes are expected to be enacted this 2025. The prosecution has already opened several cases against officials from the previous government, including the former Deputy Prime Minister. Artan Grubi, for the former director of AD ESM, Vasko Kovacevski, but the Criminal Code with milder sentences will also apply to them, which was adopted with the votes of SDSM and DUI, but also with accusations from the then government towards VMRO-DPMNE that it was they who ensured the quorum at the session.
These amendments, which are still in force, reduced the penalties in Article 353, which refers to abuse of official position and authority, which was most often used to prosecute officials and functionaries, as well as reducing the penalties for the crime of criminal association in Article 394, which entails an earlier statute of limitations for criminal offenses.
The former Deputy Prime Minister is suspected of "embezzlement in office under Article 354, paragraph 3", an offense for which there are no changes in the current Criminal Code, but, for example, Kovachevski is being prosecuted for "negligent performance in office", an article that was revised and for which a lower sentence is now provided.
Although the government is now accelerating the process of introducing harsher sentences, experts say that even by adopting a completely new Criminal Code, the damage from last year's scandalous amendments to the Criminal Code cannot be repaired.
– The legal maximum prison sentences for corruption crimes provided for in the current Criminal Code are extremely low, so any initiative for change in this section is to be welcomed. Hence, as far as the proceedings that have already been opened against former officials are concerned, and guided by the principle of retroactive effect of the law, the provisions of the Criminal Code that provide for the lowest sentences for the crimes in question will be applied. The harmful consequences that have arisen as a result of the amendments made to the Criminal Code in September 2023 cannot only be remedied by possible additional amendments to the existing Criminal Code, but also by adopting a completely new Criminal Code, the Coalition "All for a Fair Trial" tells "Sloboden Pechat".
DS initiative soon before Constitutional Court
Even if the amendments to the existing Criminal Code are passed and come into force this year, they will apply to criminal offenses committed after the amendments, i.e. the adoption of the new code. This was confirmed by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski in one of his public appearances.
– This Criminal Code, as it is, will mean amnesty, conditionally speaking, for some of the crimes committed for which there is reasonable suspicion and evidence, whether in the investigation phase or in the court phase. Why? Because this Criminal Code is more favorable for those cases and in accordance with the Constitution they see the more favorable one, and that will mean the statute of limitations for some of the acts, regardless of whether we bring a new one, the new one cannot over-synchronize the one that is permanent. So, those who thought of doing themselves this type of service – did it. And here we should not have any dilemmas – stated Mickoski.
Immediately after the controversial amendments were voted on, the president of the Democratic Alliance Pavle Trajanov submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court, requesting that the constitutionality of the amendments be reviewed, but the initiative has not been put on the agenda for more than a year.
In addition to challenging the amendments, the leader of the Democratic Union in the initiative to the Constitutional Court requests that the Court ex officio adopt a temporary measure to postpone the application of the amendments to the Criminal Code until a final decision is made regarding the initiative.
According to the latest information from the Constitutional Court, this initiative will be put on the agenda on February 12. – The report with the proposal has been prepared, it will be discussed and decided at that session – say the Constitutional Court. Two initiatives have been merged in this case, Trajanov's and another one submitted by a citizen, Krste Veleski.
The new suspected officials will be prosecuted with old "softer" sanctions