Izvorni znanstveni članak
Statute of limitations in cases of war profiteering and crimes in ownership transformation and privatisation and controversies following the decision rendered by the Constitutional Court in the HYPO case
Ivo Josipović
; Pravni fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The author describes the genesis of changes to the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia in relation to Article 31 and the introduction of the exemption of the statute of limitations for criminal offences in ownership transformation and privatisation, as well as war profiteering. Reference is made to the decision rendered by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, No. U-III-4149/2014 of 24 July 2015 (Official Gazette 89/15), in which the Constitutional Court interprets, along with other legal issues, the provision of Article 31(4) of the Constitution of the Republic Croatia regarding the exemption of the statute of limitations for such criminal offences. The interpretation of the cited constitutional norm issued by the Constitutional Court is, in the author’s opinion, not only socially and morally harmful, but also legally entirely incorrect. The author’s assessment is based on an analysis of the provision itself (grammatical interpretation) that differs from the analysis performed by the Constitutional Court, on the teleological and historical interpretation of the relevant constitutional provision, and criticism of the Constitutional Court’s arguments. The Constitutional Court’s decision is based on certain inaccurate premises, inclining towards an outdated perception of the statute of limitations contrary to the decisions rendered by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and the European Court of Human Rights and incorrectly interpreting judgments rendered by both high international courts and domestic courts. Without prejudice to the issue of the guilt of the defendant in a criminal case whose final judgement led to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the author focuses on the principle of the legal issue of the interpretation of the cited provision of the Constitution, believing that the harmful implications of the decision will have a long-term effect on the Croatian legal and economic system with serious political and moral consequences for society as a whole.
Ključne riječi
statute of limitations; retroactivity; ownership transformation and privatization; war profiteering
Hrčak ID:
218946
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.12.2018.
Posjeta: 1.549 *