Former Justice Minister and member of parliament Daniel Lipsic who initiated the current reformed Penal Code is bewildered by changes prepared by his successor Stefan Harabin. "The Ministry of Justice is preparing laws to protect people committing serious crimes," he said on Tuesday.
The Justice Ministry said it was planning to ease jail sentences for crimes. In its amendment to the Penal Code, it proposes that after serving half their jail term, offenders may be considered for conditional release. Prisoners who were sentenced for particularly serious crimes could be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. Under the current legislation only people who were convicted for less serious crimes can be released from prison after they complete half of their sentence. Those who were sentenced for a crime can ask for release after serving two-thirds while in case of particularly serious crimes conditional release is conditioned on serving three quarters of sentence. The Justice Ministry justified its proposal claiming that it appears that in case of crimes that are not considered particularly serious according to their nature, serving two-thirds of a sentence before being considered for a conditional release is a too long period.
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