Podgorica, (MINA) – Gender-motivated murder of women (femicide) will be introduced into the Criminal Code as a special form of aggravated murder, Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic has announced.
He told the RTCG web portal that this change is a response to alarming data on the number of murders of women and prevalence of gender-based violence.
“By introducing femicide as a separate criminal offense, the motive is clearly recognized and a precise and stricter sanctioning framework is provided”, said Bozovic.
According to him, the draft amendment to the Criminal Code were submitted to the European Commission in June last year, and after receiving their comments, it is planned to finalize the legislative procedure and submit the proposal to the Parliament.
Bozovic assessed that significant progress has been made in the recent period in improving the legal framework for the fight against violence.
“The most important change concerns the entry into force of the amendments to the Criminal Code of Montenegro in December 2023, which amended Article 220, which prescribes the criminal offense of domestic and family violence. The penalties for this criminal offense have been increased, and the key change is that any form of violence resulting in either physical or psychological consequences, is now treated as a criminal offense rather than a misdemeanor”, Bozovic pointed out.
He also announced further work on amendments to the Criminal Code related to the general provisions on sentencing.
“The proposed amendments aim to limit the possibility of reducing sentences below the legal minimum in cases of repeated offences, which is in particularly important in the context of domestic violence and gender-based violence”, Bozovic said.
