Croatia Strengthens Penalties for Racist Crimes

Croatian lawmakers have strengthened penalties against racially- and ethnically-motivated crimes.
The amendment to the penal code says “every offence committed against a person because of his
race, skin colour, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, religion or other particularities” will in
future be treated by the courts as aggravating circumstances. The Serb community in Croatia had
demanded the change because of what it said was the Croatian authorities‘ lack of response to ethnic
violence against the Balkan state’s biggest minority. Tensions between Croats and Serbs in the
country have persisted since the end of the Serbo-Croat war of 1991-95. Croatian Serbs were the
victims of around 60 attacks, including murders, in 2005 and have been subjected to more than 10
since the start of this year. The change in the penal code came two days after the European Jewish
Congress President Pierre Besnainou urged Zagreb to strengthen its laws against anti-Semitism,
during a meeting with Croatian president Stipe Mesic. The leaders of Croatia’s Jewish community recently reported receiving threatening and insulting emails addressed to Holocaust survivors. In the
past, African immigrants have also been the target of racial attacks in the streets of the Croatian
capital.
Source: European Jewish Press