ZADAR ZADAR, May 22 (Hina) - Supreme Court president Ivica Crnic stated on Wednesday a recent encounter between the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government constituted no interference into the independence of the
courts, as presented in some media, but that the legislative and executive branches were cautioned that they were responsible for the situation in the judiciary.
ZADAR, May 22 (Hina) - Supreme Court president Ivica Crnic stated on
Wednesday a recent encounter between the judicial, legislative and
executive branches of government constituted no interference into
the independence of the courts, as presented in some media, but that
the legislative and executive branches were cautioned that they
were responsible for the situation in the judiciary. #L#
The encounter was useful and it is completely inappropriate to
state that this had anything to do with interfering with the
independence of the judiciary, Crnic said at a press conference in
Zadar. During the meeting, representatives of the judiciary warned
that a certain number of judges, with a certain amount of equipment
and premises, could resolve only a certain number of cases, he
stressed.
The legislative and executive authorities were cautioned that they
were responsible for the state in the judicial authority which,
said Crnic, means that they need to find the way to resolve 1.3
million backlog cases in Croatian courts.
Responding to questions by journalists about the possibility of
abolishing the statute of limitation with regard to criminal
dealings in privatisation processes, Crnic said that the question
of the statute of limitations was a minor problem compared to
certain laws that allowed certain behaviour at certain times.
A supplementary law cannot be introduced today to sanction someone
for an act they committed in the past when other laws were in force,
said Crnic. One can certainly think that the process of
privatisation allowed acts that are far from moral, but that does
not mean that those acts were punishable at the time, he added.
Crnic believes that Croatia's judiciary is prepared to take on
cases from the Hague war crimes tribunal. As far as personnel is
concerned, domestic courts are qualified to implement trials
correctly and professionally. In this, Crnic expects support from
the public, which he said should not proclaim anyone guilty or
exempt from their responsibility in advance.
Asked to comment about the frequent criticism by the president of
the Association of Croatian Judges, Vladimir Gredelj, regarding
measures introduced by the justice minister, Crnic said that he
would rather hear constructive proposals than criticism for the
sake of criticising.
Crnic visited Zadar on Wednesday where he met with the heads of
county, municipal and the commercial court to discuss changes in
the judiciary and problems related to the vocation of judges.
(hina) sp sb