"Everyone in Croatia is obliged to respect Supreme Court decisions and comply with them. This is especially expected of every judge. What dumbfounded us in the attack by judge Lozina, who presided in the Lora case, on the decision of the Croatian Supreme Court, was the level at which this judge argued with a decision of the highest judicial body, with the justice minister and renowned international institutions," Gredelj said in a statement on Friday.
He added that insinuating, without any arguments, that the judges of the highest court in Croatia were prompted by dishonourable motives and were influenced in adopting the decision by the justice minister, the British Foreign Office and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and insinuating that the Supreme Court decision was the result of cheap calculation was a case without precedent which called for an appropriate and prompt reaction by competent bodies.
Lozina presided a panel of five judges which on 20 November 2002 unanimously acquitted eight former military police of war crimes committed at Lora prison in the southern coastal city of Split.
Commenting yesterday on the Supreme Court decision which quashed the acquittal, Lozina said the decision "was influenced by the conduct of Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, the OSCE, the Foreign Office and the State Department".
Lozina went on to say that Skare-Ozbolt should be defending the dignity of the judiciary but was not. "When she was an MP of the Democratic Centre (party) Skare-Ozbolt was saying that I was a biased and politicised judge, while in her capacity as justice minister she made statements about the Lora case so as to curry favor with the international community."
Added Lozina, "It's sad that in independent Croatia the OSCE applauds every Supreme Court decision that quashes a non-final ruling."