ZAGREB, Sept 26 (Hina) - A Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy professor, Ivan Padjen, has said in an interview with Croatian Television that President Stjepan Mesic acted in line with his constitutional powers when he called for respect for
the rule of law in his address to the nation on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, Sept 26 (Hina) - A Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy professor,
Ivan Padjen, has said in an interview with Croatian Television that
President Stjepan Mesic acted in line with his constitutional
powers when he called for respect for the rule of law in his address
to the nation on Wednesday. #L#
Like any other modern state, Croatia is to a large extent regulated
by its constitution and international law and it is in its interest
to respect international law. This is roughly what President Mesic
said, Padjen said in last night's interview for the Croatian
Television broadcast Meridijan 16 when asked to comment on Mesic's
address to the nation regarding the Hague tribunal's indictment
against general Janko Bobetko and reactions to Mesic's address.
If Mesic's estimate that some possible government moves could be
met with extra-institutional reactions is correct, then it is only
understandable that he should react and he could hardly have
reacted some other way, Padjen said.
Asked to comment on Hague tribunal spokeswoman Florance Hartman's
statement that the tribunal did not receive any official reaction
of the Croatian government and that media speculation about
contesting the indictment was ridiculous, Padjen said Hartman's
statement was interesting only to the ordinary public.
"I must say that I never understood how a court can have a
spokesperson. A court which states its stand does so in line with a
very elaborate procedure which enables interested parties to state
their stand about the court's hypothetical stands. I do not believe
it is of any great significance if a spokesperson clarifies a
court's stand. It is only another piece of information which is more
interesting to a wide audience," Padjen said.
(hina) rml