Rimac loses her immunity after only 7 days in parliament
In an express session today, parliamentary Credentials and Privileges Commission removed the immunity of Josipa Rimac, member of the Croatian parliament representing HDZ and also the party’s campaign manager. The decision was unanimous and it was made without any discussion, so it is to be expected that the Parliament will vote in favour of it during its session tomorrow. Rimac was sworn in just a week ago, after the immunity of her party colleague Ante Jerolimov was also removed due to a pending University diploma forgery investigation.
As we already reported on Total Croatia News, The removal of the parliamentary immunity has been requested due to the continuation of the investigation against Rimac which was launched last year by USKOK, which alleges that Rimac illegally acquired private residential units as the mayor of Knin.
Chairwoman of the Credentials and Privileges Committee Gordana Sobol confirmed the decision and commented “Ms Rimac will still have the same rights as other parliament members, she will still receive full pay and benefits. Also, even if she is not elected to parliament after the elections, she will still have the right to claim her 6+6 package, meaning that she will keep receiving her full pay 6 months after the new parliament is sworn in, plus half pay for additional six months”.
It is interesting to note that the Committee, which was formed 4 years ago, received 31 requests for removal of immunity. In 12 very public cases that request was approved while the rest of them were denied given that they were requested because of private lawsuits for offenses such as defamation of character for which they can be still prosecuted after their mandate ends.
