Komisioni i Venecias ka dhënë disa opinione lidhur me draftet e dekriminalizimit. Në njërin prej tyre në qershor 2015, Komisioni dha këto konkluzione:
On the basis of the applicable European standards, as developed in particular by the European Court of Human Rights when applying Article 3 of the First Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, and of information collected on the legal situation in more than thirty states, the Venice Commission has reached the following conclusions.
Ineligibility to be elected is a restriction of the right to free elections: it must therefore be based on clear norms of law, pursue a legitimate aim and observe the principle of proportionality. It is in the general public interest to avoid an active role of offenders in the political decision-making. Proportionality limits not only the cases in which a restriction is admissible, but also the length of the restriction; it requires that such elements as the nature
and severity of the offence and/or the length of the sentence be taken into account.
The loss of parliamentary mandate must also be considered as a restriction to the right to free elections and must accordingly be submitted to the same conditions.
There is no common standard on the cases, if any, in which such restrictions should be imposed. However, the vast majority of the states examined limit the right of offenders to sit in Parliament, at least in the most serious cases.
The Venice Commission considers that the deprivation of political rights before final conviction is contrary to the principle of presumption of innocence, except for limited and justified exceptions. In practice, exceptions are applied in only a few states under consideration.
The Commission also considers that, whereas national legislation does not address the issue of convictions abroad as such, these should have the same effect as convictions in-country as soon as they are given effect through the applicable exequatur procedures.
Finally, the Commission finds it suitable for the Constitution to regulate at least the most important aspects of the restrictions to the right to be elected and of loss of parliamentary mandate, and indeed many states provide for such provisions. Other rules would probably be better placed in electoral rather than in criminal legislation. This is at any rate the case in most of the countries studied.
Whereas it may be suitable for legislation to provide for restrictions to operate automatically for the most serious offences or convictions – as is the case in most states under consideration -, discretion for the judges in deciding on the specific case may be suitable in less serious cases and, more generally, where the conviction relates to sitting MPs.
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