Croatia Drastically Increases Fines for Brawling, Prostitution and Begging

(Patria) - Fines for misdemeanours against public order and peace, including engaging in prostitution, displaying symbols that disturb public order and peace, vagrancy or giving alcohol to minors under 16 - which currently range from 20 to 170 euros - will be increased several times over in Croatia.

The Ministry of the Interior of Croatia is not yet revealing the exact amounts, but they point out that the current fines do not have a deterrent effect on perpetrators, are not aligned with fines for other types of misdemeanours, such as traffic offences (fines for speeding go up to 2,650 euros), and are not in line with prison sentences, which the existing law prescribes for the same acts.

Thus, for example, it is currently stipulated that anyone who behaves in a particularly rude and indecent manner in a public place will be fined between 20 and 170 euros or imprisoned for up to 30 days, writes Jutarnji list.

Sensitive issues

"A large disproportion is observed between the prescribed amount of the fine in relation to the possibility of imposing a prison sentence.

Namely, a prison sentence is in itself a more severe type of sanction and is intended for 'more serious' misdemeanours, so for that reason, fines for those misdemeanours should also be prescribed in higher amounts," explain the Ministry of the Interior, which has sent a notice to public consultation that it will amend the Law on Misdemeanours against Public Order and Peace.

These amendments will only change the amounts of fines in the existing provisions of the law - not its content.

A completely new law, for the drafting of which an interdepartmental working group was appointed last week, and which should be more modern and more adapted to European practices, should not be expected before the end of the year.

Thus, instead of the decriminalisation of prostitution - which is strongly advocated by non-governmental organisations and the Government's human rights offices, as well as the police and practising judges, and about which research was presented just last week - the Ministry of the Interior will propose even stricter punishment of the prostitutes themselves.

Croatia still uses the law inherited from the former Yugoslavia, the content of which has not been changed since 1977, and until last autumn, fines were even expressed in German marks.

The main reason it has not been changed so far is precisely that this law also regulates prostitution, which is always a sensitive issue for politicians.

Croatia is the last country in the EU to punish sexual relations for money between two consenting adults, and it does so by punishing only the person selling the sexual service, while the buyer is not committing any punishable act.

Fines range from 20 to 100 euros or imprisonment for up to 30 days, and although the law defines the act as a misdemeanour against public order and peace, "engaging in prostitution" is also punishable in, for example, a private apartment.

The only attempt to pass a new, more modern law dates back to 2012, when the then Minister Ranko Ostojić presented a proposal with dramatically higher fines.

It regulated prostitution by punishing both prostitutes and clients, with fines of 1,000 to 5,000 kuna for those who offer or request a sexual service in a public place, and 4,000 to 10,000 kuna for those who actually realise the service (regardless of whether they do so in a public place or not).

Fascist symbols

Other fines were also extremely high: in the year when the average salary was 5,500 kuna, fines for, for example, aggressive begging ranged from 2,000 to 5,000 kuna or 20 days in prison, and for "disparaging the moral feelings" of citizens or appearing in public without clothes, from 2,000 to 4,000 kuna or 20 days in prison.

The law never reached a vote in the parliament, and the then Prime Minister Milanović publicly opposed it.

Another provision sensitive for political structures is the one for punishing the display of fascist symbols and greetings, which is currently punished under a very vague provision that defines a fine of 20 to 150 euros or up to 30 days in prison for "performing or reproducing songs, compositions and texts or wearing and displaying symbols, texts, images and drawings that disturb public order and peace."

This is the provision under which, for example, some musicians have been convicted for performing the song Čavoglave with the shout "Za dom spremni" at the beginning, although the original performer Marko Perković Thompson was not convicted for the same act.

In drafting the new law, the legislator will face demands that the punishment for displaying such symbols either be explicitly mentioned and severely penalised, or completely moved to the Penal Code.