The Chamber of Deputies has Okayed amendments on the law 254/2013 on serving prison sentences under house arrest for the non-violent deeds that are punished up to one year in prison.
The amendments have passed by 176 votes to 93 and one abstention.
The PNL and USR opposition parties have announced after the vote they will challenge the draft law to the Constitutional Court.
The Lower Chamber’s legal committee has amended the bill on Tuesday, in the way that serving home arrest can be possible only in the case of sentences to up to one year in prison, not 18 months, as the Senate had decided.
The amendment has been tabled by the Social Democrat Party. Another amendment, adopted also upon the proposal of the ruling party, says that people who have to serve another 18 months until condition for release on parole is met can also benefit of home detention.
At the same time, a provision that had been removed by Ciolos technocrat government has been re-introduced, meaning that inmates will have 20 days cut from their prison sentences „for every scientific paper or patented invention or innovation”.
On the other hand, the Opposition argues that the draft law should not have been re-discussed by the Parliament as the Constitutional Court had already decided on September 18 that the bill is not constitutional as a whole. They explain that the bill declared unconstitutional should have been out of the legislative procedure and amendments could have been operated through another draft.