Bosnia's Criminal Procedure Law sent to regular procedure

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Bosnia and Herzegovina's House of Representatives rejected the Croat Democratic Union's (HZD BiH) proposal to discuss their Draft Law on Criminal Procedure in urgent procedure and submitted it to regular procedure.

Bosnia's Justice Minister Josip Grubesa addressed the lawmakers saying that this is a systemic law whose amendments were requested by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

The Constitutional Court declared some of the Law’s articles addressing the process of granting immunity from legal prosecution, physical search and special investigative procedures as unconstitutional in 2016, and gave lawmakers six months to adopt adequate changes.

According to Grubesa, Bosnia's Council of Ministers tasked the Justice Ministry to prepare a Draft Law which would fulfil the Constitutional Court's decision. He appealed to the lawmakers to take into account the urgency of this Law.  

In the second round of voting, lawmakers of the House of Representatives of Bosnia's Parliamentary Assembly supported the amendments to the Law Criminal Procedure, propsed by the Democratic Action Party (SDA) in an urgent procedure.

If the Law is not passed by May, hundreds of investigations into terrorism and organized crime that the police and Bosnia's intelligence agency have conducted will be jeopardized.