CRNIC: ORTYNSKI HAS MADE HIS MANDATE AVAILABLE

PLITVICKA JEZERA, June 28 (Hina) - Croatian Supreme Court president Ivica Crnic said on Thursday that Chief State Prosecutor Radovan Ortynski made his mandate available to the parliament's Justice Committee following yesterday's reaction by the Supreme Court. Crnic requested yesterday that the government immediately establish whether a disciplinary procedure should be initiated against Ortynski for his statement on corruption in the judiciary, assessing the statement as inadmissible. "After the Supreme Court's reaction Chief State Prosecutor Ortynski made a statement apologising to the Supreme Court and all Croatian judges and made his mandate available to the Justice Committee. We believe that he, too, has acted responsibly in this situation," Crnic told Hina ahead of a meeting between Croatian and Slovene supreme courts' delegations at the national park Plitvice Lakes. Crnic says that in his letter to the government he explained the Supreme Court's view that nobody can make unsubstantiated claims about concrete court cases. "If somebody has evidence on corruption, he should make it available and all such cases will be definitely processed, but blanket labelling is not allowed," Crnic said, adding, "we have requested that the government initiate a disciplinary procedure, that is, asses whether a disciplinary procedure should be initiated." Radovan Ortynski was appointed Chief State Prosecutor by the parliament, at the government's proposal, as envisaged by recent amendments to the Constitution. The adoption of a law on the State Prosecutor's Office, which went into force in mid-June, created conditions for the Prosecutor to take an oath before the parliament speaker. The oath-taking should have taken place yesterday but was postponed by parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic yesterday morning due to, he said, "inappropriate public debates in the media between Ortynski and the state judiciary." (hina) rml