The Action for Social Justice (ASP) announced today that it submitted comments this week on amendments to the Criminal Code, which recommends considering the possibility of recognizing new criminal offenses related to illegal employment based on fake or purchased diplomas, illegal "employment" based on service contracts, and harassment at work.
"The comments were proposed within the framework of the published public debate, and the proposals were prompted by the already sufficiently pronounced level of socially dangerous behavior in these areas and the assessment that, accordingly, they need to be recognized as prohibited by criminal legislation," the ASP statement said.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) added that they recommended considering the acceptability of models from comparative Croatian legislation regarding the duration of "long-term imprisonment" sentences, and with regard to the general minimum limit for this criminal sanction, which in the neighboring country is twenty-one years.
"In our country, 'long-term imprisonment' is from thirty to forty years, while the sentence of 'prison' is up to a maximum of twenty years. The ASP also believes that it is necessary to consider increasing the statute of limitations not only for criminal prosecution, but also for the execution of sentences, and for the most serious criminal offenses and the most serious sentences. It is also recommended to toughen sentences in basic and qualified forms for the criminal offenses of criminal association and the creation of a criminal organization, given the degree of manifestation of organized crime, and consequently the willingness of decision-makers to possibly accept a change in the range of long-term imprisonment sentences," the statement reads.
The ASP said that in the part of the provision on so-called extended confiscation, which concerns the confiscation of property gains, it is proposed to change the optional basis to a mandatory basis for confiscating property suspected of being acquired through criminal activity, unless the legality of its acquisition is proven, rather than making it probable, as is currently prescribed.
"The Ministry of Justice has launched a public debate on amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro, proposing toughening the penal policy for the illegal possession and carrying of weapons and femicide, but also reinstating attacks on doctors as a criminal offense," the NGO said.
ASP believes that the time has long been ripe in the country for the entire professional and interested public to be involved in detailed amendments to systemic laws in criminal legislation, in line with the threat of overall increasing crime.
"This requires much more time than twenty or thirty days of public discussion, without organizing public debates, round tables, thematic meetings that would contribute to the most appropriate solutions overall, and bearing in mind that criminal repression is the harshest form of legal repression. The ASP also believes that it would be useful to publish and form working groups that prepare amendments to legal solutions, specifically to the Criminal Code of Montenegro, so that the public would be informed about who is participating in the preparation of legal amendments," the ASP said.
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