Zilinka: New Bill Doesn't Increase Protection of Crime Victims

Bratislava, 1 December (TASR) - The bill on setting up the new Crime Victim and Whistleblower Protection Office does not contain any provision concerning changes in the system for the protection of victims of crimes, and doesn't even strengthen or increase its effectiveness, TASR has learnt from Prosecutor-General Maros Zilinka's social media post published on Monday. He pointed to the objective proposed by the sponsor of the bill, according to which it aims to respond to the "existing model of institutional protection for victims of crimes, which leads to its reduced effectiveness and practical weakening of the guarantees of crime victims' rights due to a lack of sufficiently unified and effective protection in practice". Zilinka noted that the bill only envisages transferring the victims' compensation agenda from the Justice Ministry, rather than providing comprehensive protection to crime victims by the new office. Such protection will continue to be provided by the relevant authorities and entities, as dictated by the nature of this agenda. "In this context, the title of the bill doesn't match the functions to be carried out by the office because, as far as crime victims are concerned, it will essentially be the office for compensating the victims of crimes," noted Zilinka. He also contemplated whether the compensation of crime victims has anything in common with the agenda covering the protection of whistleblowers of anti-social conduct. "And this is especially true if we consider that the law on crime victims only envisages the compensation of victims of violent crimes," concluded Zilinka. The new Crime Victim and Whistleblower Protection Office should take over the agenda of compensating victims of crime from the Justice Ministry and replace the current Whistleblowers Protection Office. The Interior Ministry pointed to the need to respond to problems when applying the current law, in particular the insufficient rights of an employer of a protected whistleblower. The bill is being debated via a fast-tracked legislative procedure. jrg