DEFENCE AND PROSECUTION COMPROMISING JUSTICE SYSTEM IN "MOB" CASE

ZAGREB, Oct 26 (Hina) - Presidents of the Croatian Supreme and county courts on Thursday called on the authorities to urgently change regulations, making it possible for courts to sanction actions compromising the effectiveness of a trial and the contempt of court. The presidents of the Supreme Court and county courts assessed that the defence attorneys and prosecution lawyers in court proceedings against a Zagreb mobster organisation had, by leaving the courtroom, gravely compromised the reputation of the court and Croatia. With their actions, they have jeopardised a fair and quick trial, the judges said. The courts do not have effective legal mechanisms to prevent such conduct by attorneys. The judges thus asked that regulations be reviewed urgently, so the court could have the possibility of using instruments of prevention and punishment of attempts to endanger the effectiveness of a trial and of contempt of court, a statement issued after Thursday's meeting said. The main hearing against "Zagreb mobsters" has been postponed twice so far, with most defence attorneys leaving the trial chamber during the first hearing on October 16, dissatisfied with the fact that their clients were being tried in the premises of the Remetinec jail. The second hearing, on October 23, was disrupted when attorneys of the prosecution, Dunja Pavlicek-Patak, Janjko Grlic and Petar Dragosavac, left the courtroom unhappy with the decision of the judicial council, to which they did not have a possibility of appeal, that proceedings against Miljenko Zaje-Krojfa be separated from the rest of the defendants, that the court pay the fees for defence attorneys appointed to the defendants by the state because their former attorneys had abandoned the proceedings, as well as that the defence attorneys who left the court would remain unpunished for their conduct. (hina) lml jn