Prosecutor Savovic on Criminal Code overhaul: Harsher penalties are pure populism

In an interview with N1, she explained that for the law to be effective, citizens need to understand what constitutes a crime.

If something is changed too frequently, and it becomes unclear what is allowed and what isn’t, which actions are punishable and which aren’t, this lack of clarity can make it difficult to hold people accountable for their actions, she said.

Savovic believes there are several motives behind these frequent changes.

“The push for harsher penalties is clearly populist,” she said, adding that unclear and contradictory legal norms have created confusion.

Given the scope of the changes, Savovic argues that it is essentially a new law being introduced.

“It is irresponsible of the state to allow just one month for public debate. We are talking about huge changes to five laws, three of which are major laws, and the changes fundamentally affect our legal system,” she said.

The lawmakers who wrote the amendments had three years to draft them. Savovic points out that the makeup of the working groups tasked with drafting the amendments kept changing, and was always kept secret.

“We don’t even know who wrote the final versions of these texts,” she said.

One particularly provision has raised alarm among journalists, activists, opposition figures and government critics. It potentially criminalizes the publication of material that could be interpreted as advising or inciting criminal activity.

Savovic believes this is one of the provisions that are very vague, adding there is fear that it can be broadly interpreted because it is legally imprecise.