On Monday, the Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to the Criminal Code, which criminalizes incitement to violence, hatred or discrimination. The penalty is 6 months to 3 years or a fine.
Among the circumstances, political affiliation is introduced, a similar provision being in the former Criminal Code as well.
The MPs in the current ruling coalition voted for the amendment, while USR and AUR voted against.
According to the new regulation, the crime of inciting violence, hatred or discrimination goes as following: “Inciting the public, by any means, to violence, hatred or discrimination against a category of persons or against a person on the grounds that he belongs to a certain category of persons defined on grounds of race, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, opinion or political affiliation, wealth, social origin, age, disability, chronic non-communicable disease or HIV / AIDS infection considered by the perpetrator as causes of inferiority of one person in relation to others is punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years or with a fine.”
The amendment stirred harsh criticism in mass media and in the civil society, as any report criticizing politicians or a political decision might be considered as offense and incriminated as such, according to the amended bill, which also refers to punishment when it comes to criticism against a person based on his opinion or political affiliation.
The amendment was made as a transposition of Framework Decision 2008/913 / JHA on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia through criminal law.
The first form of the law was overruled by the Constitutional Court. The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making chamber.
Last year, the Parliament adopted a legislative proposal, initiated by the Ministry of Justice led by former USR Minister Stelian Ion. The draft prepared by the Justice Ministry was initially amended in the Senate, even at the proposal of the ministry, a proposal supported by USR senators, introducing clear criteria such as race, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, opinion or political affiliation, wealth, social origin, age, disability, chronic non-communicable disease or HIV / AIDS infection, criteria that were later eliminated in the Chamber of Deputies and replaced only with the phrase “from a certain category of people”.
The President challenged the law to the Constitutional Court on the grounds that it violates the principle of predictability and clarity of rules because it lacks “criteria such as race, color, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin “, as required by the European directive.
Returned to Parliament after the Court ruled in favor of the President, the law was again supplemented by an amendment adopted in the Senate, listing the initial criteria.
On Monday, in the Legal Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, by an amendment assumed by the chairman of the legal committee, Social Democrat Laura Vicol, only the phrase “or for other criteria of the same kind” was removed from the version adopted by the Senate, with Vicol arguing that there was “a far broader framework for interpretations”.