JUSTICE MINISTER VISITS COUNCIL OF EUROPE

STRASBOURG, April 9 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic on Tuesday commenced a two-day official visit to the Council of Europe with talks with the deputy secretary general of the EC, Hans-Christian Kruger and the Head Director for Legal Co-operation Guy de Vela. The talks were dedicated to commenced reforms of Croatia's judiciary system. #L# As reported the meeting focused on issues related to the coming amendments to numerous laws (the Law on Criminal Proceedings, Criminal Law, Law on Civil Suits) where efforts are being made to increase the efficiency of the judiciary and protection of human rights in court proceedings. The senior EC officials positively evaluated activities being undertaken by the Croatian Government and Sabor in the process reforms and adaptation of the judicial system to European standards. Mutual desires were expressed to continue co-operation on an expert level between Croatia and the EC, a press release noted. Minister Anticevic-Marinovic announced the pending ratification of some key international legal instruments by the EC that at the same time represent a part of the "achquis communitaire" of the European Union. The adoption of these is a vital condition to attain membership in the Union. These include the Convention on Protecting Individuals during Automatic Data Processing of Personal Data, the Civil Legal Convention on Corruption, the Convention on Cybernetic Crime. The Justice Minister visited the European Court for Human Rights, the most significant European institution for the protection of human rights whose president is to officially visit Croatia towards the end of April this year. (hina) it sb