ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - Improvements to the efficiency of the courts +as well as to the salaries of judges and all judiciary officials, +were the highlights of Friday's Lower House discussion on the +situation in the judiciary in
Croatia.+ One should also introduce measures of responsibilities for all +those who do not fulfil their obligations, the MPs said. + Along criticisms to individual cases in the judiciary, most MP's +supported the measures of improvement recommended by Justice +Minister Milan Ramljak.+ The ruling Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) bench recommended +that the discussion be postponed and that the parliamentary Justice +Committee consider Minister Ramljak's report and then present the +Sabor with concrete measures of improvement.+ The measures presented by Minister Ramljak are the only way to +resolve the current situation in the judiciary, said Slavko Linic +of the Social Democratic
ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - Improvements to the efficiency of the courts
as well as to the salaries of judges and all judiciary officials,
were the highlights of Friday's Lower House discussion on the
situation in the judiciary in Croatia.
One should also introduce measures of responsibilities for all
those who do not fulfil their obligations, the MPs said.
Along criticisms to individual cases in the judiciary, most MP's
supported the measures of improvement recommended by Justice
Minister Milan Ramljak.
The ruling Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) bench recommended
that the discussion be postponed and that the parliamentary Justice
Committee consider Minister Ramljak's report and then present the
Sabor with concrete measures of improvement.
The measures presented by Minister Ramljak are the only way to
resolve the current situation in the judiciary, said Slavko Linic
of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Similar opinions were relayed by the Croatian Social Liberal Party
(HSLS) bench.
Liberal Party's (LS) Bozo Kovacevic considers that the situation in
the judiciary is, to say the least, concerning. There was no mention
anywhere of the issue of corruption, he remarked.
Petar Zitnik of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) relayed that the
judiciary had been "cleaned with an iron broom" according to the
criterion of political suitability.
Speaking on behalf of the HDZ bench, Vladimir Seks noted that
inefficiency in judiciary was not justice but injustice and that
the fundamental step towards correcting that was an increase in
salaries.
A number of opposition members pointed out to the inefficiency of
the courts and the deficiency of available judges as well as the
lack of higher courts to supervise decisions of lower courts.
LS's Bozo Kovacevic believes that the number of unresolved cases
submitted to the courts was most concerning. He indicated that
there were over 100,000 unresolved cases.
Most concerning is that corruption was not mentioned anywhere,
Kovacevic said.
Claims made by MP Zitnik that courts judged according to "orders" of
the ruling party incited over 20 objections.
These allegations were harshly rejected by HDZ members Drago Krpina
and Vladimir Seks who considered these claims as offensive.
The Serbian National Party (SNS) joined in and party president
Milan Djukic added to claims that the ruling party influenced the
courts backing his claim with the example of his daughter, who as a
judge was still not assigned to the courts even though she had been
in contention for the position 13 times.
Each time she was asked "who is Djukic from the Sabor to you", he
said.
(Hina) sp/rml