ZAGREB, Oct 23 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic and Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic expect the government to adopt a draft reform of the judiciary at Thursday's session and grant significantly
increased funds for the judiciary.
ZAGREB, Oct 23 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic
Marinovic and Chief State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic expect the
government to adopt a draft reform of the judiciary at Thursday's
session and grant significantly increased funds for the judiciary.
#L#
Anticevic Marinovic and Bajic met on Wednesday behind closed doors
to discuss the reform of the judiciary and the State Prosecution.
The minister said after the talks that increasing budgetary funds
for the judiciary was necessary for the reform to "come to life" and
for citizens to feel improvements in the work of judicial bodies.
She did not comment on the amount requested, but believed that the
planned rise would solve problems with facilities and staff.
The judiciary, particularly the State Prosecution, have been
neglected for a long time, the minister said, stressing the
importance of developing the civil section of the State
Prosecution, which after unification with the Public Attorney's
Office, represents and protects state interests.
Anticevic Marinovic added that more than 200,000 cases, in which
the state was a party in the proceedings, were waiting to be
processed and that state prosecutors had great difficulty in
processing them due to lack of cooperation from state bodies,
particularly ministries.
Bajic believes that the State Prosecution should have acted better
despite numerous problems, such as a 25% deficit in the number of
prosecutors.
He stated that part of the funds would be set aside for the education
of state prosecutors and computerisation.
Bajic believes that the problem of providing accommodation for the
Zagreb County and Municipal Prosecution and the Office for the
Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) will be solved
soon.
Bajic also announced the reorganisation of the State Prosecution.
Asked whether the reform envisages mechanisms for supervising the
judges' performance, Anticevic Marinovic announced the setting up
of a special department to deal with that task.
(hina) rml