Croatia does not have to protect Zeman from justice – Home – PRAVDA.sk

Is Zeman’s application for political asylum justified? According to media reports, the accused Matej Zeman, a media activist, applied for political asylum in Croatia.

Takáčovec Matej Zeman during the main hearing with former special prosecutor Dušan Kováčik at the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok on July 7, 2021

“Based on the political pressure on me, my family and out of concern for my life, I decided to apply to the Republic of Croatia for political asylum,” he told TA3. He also explained that he was included in the asylum process on 13 August to travel from Croatia, so what is the law on Croatian asylum law about?

Asylum is regulated by the Croatian Act on International and Temporary Protection. According to Article 20, “asylum shall be granted to applicants who are outside their country of nationality or place of residence and who have a well-founded fear of persecution on the grounds of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, as a result of which they are unable or they do not wish to accept the protection of their country “.

If Zeman’s statements about asylum were inaccurate, he could instead ask for asylum. subsidiary (secondary) protection. It is possible “if there are legitimate reasons to indicate that, if returning to the applicant’s country of origin, he would be at real risk of suffering serious harm, or is unable or unwilling to seek protection in that country as a result” It is therefore questionable whether he would indeed be at risk of “suffering serious injury” in Slovakia.

The Croatian Asylum Act also talks about what persecution means, on the basis of which an asylum can be granted. These include, but are not limited to, “legal, administrative, police or judicial measures which are discriminatory or which are implemented in a discriminatory manner” as well as “prosecution or punishment which is disproportionate or discriminatory”.

On the other hand, the law also provides for exceptions to the granting of asylum: “Asylum shall not be granted to an applicant, even if he fulfills the conditions of Article 20, if there are serious suspicions that he has committed, instigated or otherwise participated in a serious non-political crime outside Croatia. Republic, before his / her arrival in the Republic of Croatia. “

The fact is that the national arrest warrant is not enough to extradite the applicant to the country of origin. However, Article 7 (1) of the Asylum Act states that “the procedure for granting international protection does not preclude the extradition of an applicant for which a European arrest warrant has been issued”. The asylum procedure does not constitute an obstacle to the extradition of an applicant to Slovakia.

The Office of the Inspection Service of the Ministry of the Interior accused Matej Zeman of the crimes of perjury and perjury and obstruction of justice.