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Ministry of Science, Education and Sports , Zagreb , Croatia
The paper will examine the contents, implications and possible unconstitutionality of Article 286 Paragraph 2 Code of Criminal Procedure which provides the Croatian State Attorney the possibility not to prosecute a witness (or the implicated close person) who said he would not testify as he could risk being prosecuted himself as well as implicating a close person. The requirement to sign such a document („oprosnica“) is based on the testimony of that witness giving important data to prove the crime of another person, and that the punishment for this offense is imprisonment of ten years or longer. The law here mixed the institute of witnesses and suspects and left a number of open questions, ambiguities, and the possibility of abuse. State attorneys were given the powers of the investigating judge, and with the so- called. "Oprosnicama" are put in the position of president, who alone can give such a pardon. Article 98 of Croatian Constitution states that the amnesty is provided by the President of the Republic. Institute of forgiveness is a powerful mechanism used by prosecutors to combat serious crimes, but there is doubt about the constitutionality of the institute, and after several constitutional claims, the possibility that the Constitutional Court revokes the power to pardon from the state attorney or that it terminates Article 286 Paragraph 2 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Croatian.
Criminal Procedure Act, Amnesty, The Constitution, The State Attorney's Office, USKOK – ( Office for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime )
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