TOMCIC SAYS HE HAS NO CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY TO CALL EXTRAORDINARY PARLIAMENT SESSION

ZAGREB, Sept 15 (Hina) - Croatian National Parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic said Friday the Parliament speaker did not have the constitutional authority to convene an extraordinary session of the House of Representatives. Tomcic said this in reply to a request by the Centre for the Defence of the Dignity of the homeland War. The centre was founded by veterans and invalids of the homeland War after this week's apprehension of Croatian Army members suspected of war crimes. The centre demanded an urgent parliament discussion on the apprehensions. Houses of Parliament convene extraordinarily at the request of the President of the Republic, the Government or a majority of members of parliament, Tomcic said in a statement. He recalled the Constitutional provision of the independence of the judicial authorities, stressing that any interfering of the legislative authorities in proceedings under the competence of courts would be a direct violation of the independence of the judicial authority. Tomcic said he was surprised the centre had chosen to communicate with him through a written statement. I believe that such a way of communication resulted in upsetting the public, Tomcic asserted. (hina) lml jn