Criminal acts against sexual freedom committed against a child will not be subject to a statute of limitations and will be prosecuted regardless of when they were discovered.
The proposal that the prosecution and execution of sentences for criminal offenses against sexual freedom under the Criminal Code not be subject to a statute of limitations was submitted to the Ministry of Justice by the Practical Shooting Club "Arsenal":
"We see no reason why the possibility of statute of limitations for the criminal offenses of rape, sexual assault of a helpless person, sexual assault of a child, sexual assault by abuse of position, illicit sexual acts, pimping and similar offenses under Chapter 18 should be allowed, bearing in mind the consequences for the victims and their family members," they stated in a comment they made during the public hearing.
Travel Bojan Božović partially accepted the proposal: "No statute of limitations for criminal offenses against sexual freedom will be introduced if they are committed to the detriment of a child."
The public debate on the Draft Amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro began on February 12, and during the 20-day period, 229 comments were submitted to the Ministry of Justice. The largest number of them related to Article 403 - Unauthorized possession and carrying of weapons and explosive substances. In this regard, the Ministry of Justice accepted the proposal that there should be no reduction in punishment for those who carry firearms, ammunition, explosive substances or substances based on them without authorization...
The penalty for this crime is imprisonment for a term of two to eight years.
Protection of employees in healthcare and education
A proposal to amend the Criminal Code to introduce a criminal offense for unauthorized possession of blueprints for 3D printing firearms and their parts was also accepted. The proposed penalty for this offense is imprisonment for a term of one to eight years.
"In light of the objective threat posed by the production of firearms and their parts using 3D printers, we propose the criminalization of possession of blueprints for 3D printing them. Since there is already a general criminalization of firearms production, the technical procedure is irrelevant, but we believe that there is a gap in terms of criminalizing blueprints for 3D printing. This approach has been adopted in the criminal legislation of North Macedonia, in the draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Serbia...", it states in the comment Dimitrije Ristic, a regional firearms expert from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The Ministry of Justice has also accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography to recognize attacks on professional workers in social work centers and institutions for the accommodation of children, youth and adults as a separate criminal offense.
The health ministry suggested that the draft, in addition to attacks on doctors, also include attacks on nurses and technicians, or that the word "doctor" be replaced with the term "healthcare worker." This proposal was also accepted, as was the proposal from the Education Union to include attacks on a person in educational activities in a separate article.
There is no partial judicial rehabilitation.
The Ministry of Justice also accepted a proposal regarding the judicial rehabilitation of persons who have been convicted multiple times.
In the comment, Predrag Krsmanovic, Head of the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions and Control, Directorate for Second Instance Administrative Procedure and Normative Legislation, among other things, stated that the Amendments to the Criminal Code from December 2023 "changed the provision in relation to the previously valid Criminal Code in such a way that it is indicated that judicial rehabilitation can be granted to a person if he has been sentenced to imprisonment multiple times, while the previous Criminal Code provided that judicial rehabilitation can be granted to a person who has been sentenced multiple times, which also includes a sentence to a fine, or a suspended sentence, if other prescribed legal conditions are met."
"We believe that the previous legal solution was better and clearer and implied that in the case of multiple convictions, judicial rehabilitation could only be granted for all convictions at the same time. It was not possible for rehabilitation to include only some of the convictions, and it was not important that legal rehabilitation had occurred for some of those acts, the main thing was that among them there were also those convictions for which only judicial rehabilitation could be granted...", states Krsmanović.
The current legal solution, he adds, "reintroduces through the back door" the practice of persons who have been convicted multiple times receiving partial rehabilitation, in relation to a suspended sentence and a fine when the conditions for legal rehabilitation are met, regardless of whether there are other convictions, and judicial rehabilitation only applies to multiple prison sentences, which creates additional ambiguities in practice.
"We believe that it would be advisable to return to the previous legal solution, by which judicial rehabilitation can be granted to a person who has been convicted multiple times (prison sentences, fines and suspended sentences) simultaneously for all convictions, if they meet the legal requirements for it, regardless of whether legal rehabilitation has occurred in relation to some of those convictions, and not for it to be granted for individual convictions, because otherwise we would end up in a position where individual convicted persons receive rehabilitation one by one for convictions for which legal rehabilitation has occurred, regardless of the fact that they were convicted multiple times at the time they seek judicial rehabilitation."
Božović's department also accepted Krsmanović's proposal regarding the articles relating to the ban on approaching and violating the ban imposed by the security measure. A fine or imprisonment of up to one year was proposed.
Comments submitted during the public hearing pointed out that the Criminal Code “does not recognize the measure of mandatory psychosocial treatment (or cure) of the perpetrator of violence”, and that “the same exists for ‘alcoholics’ and ‘drug addicts’, and therefore this stigmatizing terminology, which has long since disappeared from medical practice, urgently needs to be changed”.
"Therefore, such a measure is recognized and imposed by the civil code, but not by the criminal code, and it is not possible to impose it in criminal cases, where cases of domestic violence are most often due according to recent amendments. In this sense, I think it is necessary to create urgency and intervene in legal acts in such a way that, after the measure is regulated in detail (under what conditions it is imposed, how long it lasts, who implements it and where, when it ceases to be valid...), it is supplemented," is the proposal she submitted. Mine Gazivoda, which the Department of Justice accepted.
Prison for rejecting a foothold
In relation to the practice of the hospital and the court system of changing the security measure of mandatory psychiatric treatment in a health institution into a security measure of mandatory treatment at liberty, the proposal was accepted that, instead of the security measure at liberty lasting a maximum of three years, the Criminal Code be amended so that mandatory psychiatric treatment at liberty lasts "as long as there is a need for treatment, but not longer than three years".
"Exceptionally, this type of treatment may last longer than three years, depending on the circumstances of the case, for which a prison sentence of more than 10 years or a long-term prison sentence is threatened," is the proposal that was accepted.
The Women's Rights Center (WRC) stated that convicted persons refuse to have electronic surveillance installed to monitor the implementation of the imposed security measure and that, as currently prescribed, this cannot be considered an act of violating the imposed security measure. Therefore, they proposed adding two new articles to the Criminal Code:
"One that will prescribe the obligation of the convicted person to submit to electronic monitoring and the other that will prescribe that refusing or disabling electronic monitoring constitutes a violation of security measures imposed by a final court decision under Articles 77a and 77b of this Code. We also propose that for the violation of these measures only a prison sentence be prescribed, therefore without the possibility of imposing a fine, because the violation of these measures poses a high security risk for the victims of these criminal offenses."
The Department of Justice will analyze and consider the Central Election Commission's proposal that authorities keep special records of femicide cases.
The proposals of the National Parks of Montenegro (NPCG) were also accepted, so in the part of the Criminal Code relating to environmental pollution, pollution caused by fire will also be punishable by imprisonment for up to three years.
The NPCG proposal to introduce a fine or imprisonment of up to one year for unauthorized possession of wild animals was also accepted.
Threat to security is also a threat to property
The Ministry of Justice accepted all the proposals of the Media Union, including, among other things, the proposal that when endangering the safety of a person performing tasks of public importance, in addition to the threat of an attack on the life or body of that person or a person close to him, a threat to some other property of the injured party should be added, such as his property, a threat of kidnapping...
The proposal to introduce a qualified form of the criminal offense of minor bodily harm was also accepted.
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