CRO LOWER HOUSE DEBATES CHANGES TO PANEL OF JUDGES LAW

ZAGREB, Apr 23 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament's House of Representatives on Friday resumed a session begun two days ago with a discussion on changes to the Law on the State Panel of Judges (DSV). Prior to the discussion, Djurdja Adlesic of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) asked about measures intended to be taken in relation to the situation brought on by the current strike of employees of Croatia's largest press distributor, "Tisak". The largest circulation daily papers have not hit news-stands the last two days because of the strike. According to Adlesic, this was an opportunity of censoring events. She pointed out Thursday evening television news broadcasts brought no reports about the press conferences of the HSLS and the Social Democratic Party. The government's bill on changes to the DSV law envisages expanded reasons why a panel of judges member may be relieved of duty even prior to the expiry of their mandate. According to the current DSV law, this can be done if a DSV member makes the request himself, if he is sentenced to prison, and if he becomes the citizen of another state. The bill proposes that another reason be a serious violation of the Constitution or Croatian legislation. The request that the chairman or a member of the DSV be relieved of duty prior to the expiry of his mandate could be made by the Supreme Court, the minister of justice, the state attorney, the Croatian Bar Association, and law faculties. In the bill, the government also proposes that the President of the Republic propose candidates for the president of the Supreme Court and the state attorney offices. Also envisaged in the bill is a provision stating that high-ranking judiciary officials, including the presidents of the Supreme, the Administrative, and the Commercial Courts, and the state attorney should be sworn-in before the President of the Republic. The parliamentary committees' and party benches' representatives find the mentioned provisions, as well as the possibility of dismissal due to serious violations of the Constitution and the legislation, as the most disputable ones. The Justice Committee suggested a third reading, while party benches' representatives wondered how constitutional and legal would the President of the Republic's authorities be were he given the possibility of proposing the Supreme Court president and the state attorney. (hina) ha jn