At its session on Monday, Parliament’s Committee on Election and Appointment Issues accepted the draft changes to the Criminal Code and sent them to further reading.
During the debate, the Chair of the body, VMRO-DPMNE MP Ljupcho Prendjov, stated that the government didn’t make compromises when it came to justice. As he added, all sentences being proposed are longer than those that had been present in the text until 2023 except one, reduced by two years because of four EU directives.
However, LDP leader and MP Monika Zajkova said that without VMRO-DPMNE’s presence and vote, the 2023 Criminal Code changes wouldn’t have been made.
VMRO-DPMNE MP Bojan Stojanoski stated that if the changes, which had come following an indication from the Constitutional Court, were not made, over 200 cases related to Article 394, criminal association, would fail.
Later that day, Parliament, in the frames of its 80th session, passed a conclusion that the draft changes were acceptable and should be sent to further procedure.