The decision of judge Branko Milanovic to allow Budisa to discontinue serving his sentence for a period of 32 days has elicited various comments in the media.
Budisa has been serving a prison term of four years and 11 months in the central town of Gospic since last October. He received this sentence as the Split County Court found him guilty of the 1996 murder of Milenko Djekic.
Asked whether Justice Minister Ana Lovrin would initiate disciplinary proceedings against Judge Milanovic, who has already come in the limelight several times over his decisions which the media described as controversial, Dovranic said this would be discussed after it was assessed whether Milanovic's latest decision was in compliance with the law.
She added that it was also within the remit of the county court or the Supreme Court to decide on disciplinary proceedings before the ministry, as the third institution in the hierarchy, could make a decision to this effect.
In 1997, Milanovic acquitted a rapist who was convicted at a retrial.
In 2006, Milanovic acquitted a local businessman whom a U.S. basketball player had accused of rape in his hotel. Again his decision was quashed by a higher-instance court and the proceedings in this case are again under way.
Milanovic also grabbed the media attention with his explanation of a verdict against local Serb rebel whom he sentenced to 13 years in jail for war crimes. In his explanation the judge wrote that "the accused, together with his ancestors and the Ottoman forces, has been committing genocide against Croats for 500 years".
Asked by reporters to comment on Judge Milanovic's decision regarding Budisa, Justice Minister Ana Lovrin said in Split that in her personal opinion, such a decision should not have been made unless there had been strong reasons for it in light of the fact that this referred to a person who had been on the run and who was now at the beginning of his imprisonment.
This an individual decision by the judge ... and the law provides for possibilities for the home leave while serving a prison term in cases defined by the law and now we shall see whether in this case all the legal requirements have been met, the minister said.
She added that she had asked to be briefed about the case, and the report to this effect had been sent to the ministry.
We will look at the report. In case of irregularities, we will propose the instigation of disciplinary proceedings against the judge who made this decision," Lovrin said.