Although Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) members on the parliamentary Credentials and Privileges Commission on Wednesday moved the Commission strip Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP Zeljko Jovanovic of immunity so that he could be prosecuted following a defamation suit filed by the HDZ, the Commission did not uphold the request because the ruling party did not have a majority.
Four HDZ members on the Commission voted for the request, while five were against - from the SDP, the regional HDSSB party, and the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS).
The vote was preceded by a long and heated debate in which the Commission's HDZ members, who were joined by Parliament Deputy Speaker Vladimir Seks (HDZ), stressed that the ruling party wanted Jovanovic stripped of immunity from prosecution because of his statements that the top of the HDZ was a criminal organisation, which they said constituted a hate crime.
In that sense, there are justified reasons for the Commission to depart from the practice of not stripping MPs of immunity from prosecution based on a private defamation suit, said chairman Damir Sesvecan (HDZ) and Seks.
The Commission's SDP members said the request was unacceptable, as it was not made by an authorised state body, but by the HDZ's lawyer on the party's behalf.
