ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic said on Wednesday that she had not re-appointed only 26 out of the 242 court presidents appointed during the term of the outgoing coalition
government.
ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister Ingrid Anticevic
Marinovic said on Wednesday that she had not re-appointed only 26
out of the 242 court presidents appointed during the term of the
outgoing coalition government. #L#
The minister was commenting on statements by Vladimir Seks of the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the most likely candidate for
parliament president, and Vesna Skare Ozbolt, supposedly the
Democratic Centre's candidate for Justice Minister.
Seks and Skare Ozbolt had said that the replacement of court
presidents was one of the gravest sins of the outgoing government
because court presidents were replaced before the end of their term
of office. They also claimed that the replacement was politically
motivated and unlawful.
Minister Anticevic Marinovic recalled that the Constitutional
Court had annulled provisions of the Law on Courts under which the
State Judicial Council (DSV) appointed court presidents, and that
it adopted a separate decision confirming the constitutionality of
changes to the law under which court presidents were appointed by
the justice minister.
"The only criterion in the appointment procedure was the
candidates' performance and competence, and all appointments are
lawful," she said.
The minister said that figures were the best proof to dismiss claims
"about the purge of judicial personnel", motivated by the
appointment of personnel which would be loyal to the authorities.
The claims are also brought into question by the fact that the re-
appointed court presidents included judges who had been appointed
by the former DSV, whose appointment was determined by the HDZ.
After 2000, 242 judges were appointed court presidents, of whom 190
had already held that office. Twenty-six judges who had already
held the position of court president were not re-appointed and
another 26 were retired, promoted or did not apply for the post, so
the new ones were appointed, the minister said.
She recalled that after the 2000 elections, court presidents did
not lose their jobs, but continued working as judges, while in the
early 1990s the parliament replaced nine Supreme Court judges. In
1995, the DSV replaced another 13 of a total of 25 Supreme Court
judges with a single decision.
"That means that more than a half of Supreme Court judges ended up in
the street," Anticevic Marinovic said.
(hina) rml sb