Croatia Introduces Life Imprisonment for 15 Crimes

Croatia’s government adopted on Thursday, September 10, 2026, at a session in Zagreb, a package of amendments to the Criminal Code that introduces a life imprisonment sentence into the Croatian legal system for the first time, and sent it into parliamentary procedure. It is the biggest change to criminal legislation in the region this year, and the reason this reform reaches beyond Croatia’s borders lies in a chapter Serbia is only now opening in its negotiations with the European Union: Chapter 23, judiciary and fundamental rights, is precisely the area where Zagreb is now setting a new standard for the whole region.

Under the proposal, the life sentence enters the penal system on January 1, 2027, for 15 of the gravest criminal offenses that until now carried long-term imprisonment. They include genocide, aggression, crimes against humanity, war crimes and terrorism, aggravated murder and aggravated murder of a female victim, human trafficking resulting in a child’s death, child abuse resulting in death, participation in a criminal organization, and the murder of internationally protected persons.

A person sentenced to life imprisonment can file for parole only after serving 25 years, and approval is not automatic. “This does not mean parole will automatically be granted to him,” said Croatia’s Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, Damir Habijan, after the government session. A court decides on the request, and a petition filed before the 25 years have passed is not even considered. Habijan added that Croatia’s threshold is not among the strictest in the Union: “Other EU countries allow that option much earlier,” he said, without naming specific countries.

The minister also tied part of the reasoning behind the reform to Croatia’s European obligations. “In part, the amendments to the Criminal Code are part of harmonization with the EU’s legal acquis,” Habijan said, describing the package as a combination of European alignment and the domestic experience Croatia’s judiciary confronts daily.

Along with introducing the life sentence, the statute of limitations is being abolished for all criminal offenses that carry long-term or life imprisonment. In practice, that means perpetrators of the gravest crimes will no longer be able to count on the passage of time as a defense, no matter how many years pass between the offense and its discovery or trial.

Another new feature is a separate criminal offense of ecocide, defined as a grave offense against the environment with catastrophic, long-term and irreversible consequences for air, water, soil and the ecosystem. Ecocide carries a sentence of at least 10 years, up to long-term or life imprisonment, and this offense also does not expire, since considerable time often passes between the act that causes the damage and the discovery of its consequences for nature.

Penalties for causing fires and general danger are also being increased: the current range of six months to five years in prison rises to one to 10 years. If the result is major material damage, the sentence runs from three to 15 years, and if it causes death or serious injury to a larger number of people, the prescribed penalty is at least five years up to life imprisonment. On top of that, the maximum fine for legal entities climbs from the current 20 million euros, or 25 million euros, to as much as 50 million euros.

The law also changes the penalty policy for animal abuse: the prescribed sentence is six months to five years in prison, and up to eight years for aggravated forms. Two new criminal offenses are introduced as well, the sexual exploitation of animals and unauthorized veterinary practice.

A separate part of the reform concerns people assessed as dangerous even after serving their sentence, who have not been granted parole. For them, a supervision system lasting one to five years is introduced, and for the gravest offenses committed against children, that supervision can last up to 10 years.

The immediate trigger for the tougher penalties, as the package itself explains, was the killing of 19-year-old Luka Milovac in Drnis, for which the suspect is a man previously convicted of murder. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic referenced the case directly, linking it to the new law. “This is how we are responding to the real circumstances that we, unfortunately, have faced as a society, particularly the grave murders that have occurred, here I specifically mean the case in Drnis,” Plenkovic said, calling the law one of the most important pieces of justice legislation of this term.

The package now goes to the Croatian Parliament, the Sabor, for debate, where the final text can still change before adoption. If it passes in its current form, life imprisonment in Croatia takes effect on January 1, 2027, the date after which the region will be able to watch a Croatian court apply, for the first time, a sentence that did not previously exist in Croatian law.