ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - Parliament resumed its sitting on Tuesday with a polemical debate on a judiciary reform which, according to Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic, is nearing the end as far as its normative part is
concerned.
ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - Parliament resumed its sitting on Tuesday
with a polemical debate on a judiciary reform which, according to
Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic, is nearing the end as
far as its normative part is concerned. #L#
Opposition MPs criticised the minister for her statements that the
justice reform was necessary due to a poor situation in the
judiciary found after the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) rule.
Addressing minister Anticevic Marinovic, Ljubo Cesic Rojs of the
HDZ said: "There will be no fortune in the judiciary and there will
be no rule of law as long as you are (justice) minister and (Ivica)
Racan is premier. After part of MPs protested against Cesic Rojs'
speech by knocking on the benches, he told them they would be tried
for high treason. Chairman Zlatko Tomac reprimanded Cesic Rojs and
excluded him from the debate.
Drago Krpina of the HDZ said the minister's claims that media
supported the independent judiciary were not true. "The media in
Croatia, as once did the Central Committee, are staging their own
trials and making invitations for lynching when they are not
satisfied with courts' decisions," Krpina said, citing the Lora
case trial and the trial of the Gospic Group.
Minister Anticevic Marinovic said the justice reform started in
2000, "after the newly elected government found a poor situation in
the judiciary left from the HDZ rule - devastated judicial staff, a
large number of backlogs, insufficient expert education of judges
and insufficient material funds.
She said that so far a majority of vacancies for judges had been
filled, while the other judges were waiting to be appointed by the
State Judicial Council.
Anticevic Marinovic said that fair division of wages of state
prosecutors and judges from the same ranks, as well as those of
magistrates and municipal court judges, was crucial for
independence of the judiciary.
She reminded that the normative part of the reform included
amendments to the Penal Code, the Civil Action Law and the Distress
Law, aimed at accelerated and more efficient performance in courts,
relieving the burden from courts and solving backlog cases.
The justice minister warned that the work of courts was being
seriously burdened by as many as two million pending cases. On
average, every other Croatian citizen has a court case, she said.
She said a 18 percent increase in budgetary funds for the judiciary
was important for the successful implementation of the ongoing
reform.
(hina) it sb