33 Spring-Summer 2017 commemorating the death of the Ustasha general Jure Francetić in Slunj. It was also established that he stepped in front of the group, described the establishment of the Nazi regime, black legion, and praised the war path of Jure Francetić. Upon completion of the speech, he yelled "Bog i Hrvati, za dom" (God and Croats, For the Homeland), while an unknown person from the group yelled "spremni" (Ready) raising his outstretched right arm in the air, thereby mimicking the Nazi salute. In this way, in the court's opinion, he referred to the unacceptable political messages in a public place, uttering cries that encouraged participants to "reply" within the meaning of shouting out "Ready." As the event took place in the town of Slunj, at the square, i.e. in an open public place with access to an unlimited number of people at any time, the court determined that all the characteristics of misdemeanor referred to in the Misdemeanors against Public Order and Peace Act were fulfilled in this case. According to available data,13 in the period from 2010 to mid-2015, there were only thirteen final judgments of misdemeanor courts in which the perpetrators were convicted of hate speech under the described misdemeanor acts. More than a year has passed since then, and we have been witness to numerous similar manifestations of hate speech in the Croatian public sphere. These included engraving a swastika symbol on the pitch of the Poljud Stadium in June 2015 at the Croatia-Italy match, an initiative to introduce the salute "Za dom spremni!" (For Homeland Ready!) for official military use in August 2015, chanting Fascist messages during the Croatia-Israel match in March of 2016, painting Nazi and Ustasha symbols on buildings, etc. For spreading hate speech, which is treated as a misdemeanor, perpetrators were regularly sanctioned by fines in the amount of only several hundred kuna (several dozen euro), i.e. well below the prescribed minimum amount. Taking into account the fines regularly imposed for hate speech, we can conclude that the courts do not consider hate speech to be a significant violation of public order. Sanctions for hate speech are regularly lower than sanctions for traffic violations, while no prison sentences were imposed in relation to the criminal offense of public incitement to violence and hatred. It should be noted that the courts make rulings in accordance with the established legal framework and are autonomous when deciding on the severity of punishment imposed in each specific case. Hate Speech as a Criminal Offense - Legislation and Case-Law Until the entry into force of the Criminal Code amendments in 2013, Croatia did not adequately regulate all aspects of hate speech in its criminal law. Thus, the criminal offense of public incitement to violence and hatred was introduced into the Criminal Code in 2013 as a result of alignment of national legislation with the European Union acquis communautaire.14 The introduction of this criminal offense into the Criminal Code is certainly not only the result of complying with an obligation imposed by the European Union, but also the result of the creation of a social climate in which expressions of racist and xenophobic messages have become regular, even ordinary, occurrences. Specific characteristics of a criminal offense of public incitement to violence and hatred are the act, the manner of perpetrating the criminal offense and the relevant degree of guilt of the perpetrator. In criminal law, an act is defined as the person's willful behavior.15 In criminal acts of public incitement to violence and hatred, they can be manifested in two ways: (i) publicly inciting to violence or hatred, that is expressing hatred and intolerance against a larger group of persons or a member of the group because of their race, religion, national or ethnic origin, origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or any other characteristic, and (ii) publicly denying crimes of genocide, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity or war crimes in a manner likely to incite violence or hatred. The act alone is not limited only to verbally expressed opinions and messages, but includes all other known forms of communication (pamphlets, leaflets, images, drawings, gesticulations, etc.). The act itself may be committed through the press, radio, television, computer system or network, at a public gathering or in any other manner which makes the incriminated content publicly available, the message must be public or it must be intended to be disseminated to a large number of people. Guilt is the subjective attitude of the perpetrator towards the committed act, for which he can be reprimanded.16 A criminal offense of public incitement to violence and hatred shall be realized under the condition of establishing the perpetrator's indisputable 13. Data obtained from the State Attorney's Office pursuant to authors' written request. 14. The Criminal Code amendments enacted in 2013 were prompted by the Republic of Croatia's obligation to implement Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA of Nov. 28, 2008 on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law. 15. Cvitanović et al., Kazneno pravo opći dio, Zagreb, 2016. 16. Id.
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