Candidates For Croatian Anti-Corruption Courts

Croatian Justice Minister wants to see Supreme Court judges in the newly established anti-corruption USKOK courts.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Although the announcement of the establishment of the so called USKOK (Office for the Prevention of Corruption and Organised Crime) courts has encountered doubts, seeing how this was an issue long before the brutal murders and executions in Zagreb made the authorities make changes, it seems Croatian Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic is advancing after all concerning this matter. According to our information, he is thinking of appointing a Supreme court judge as the head of the USKOK court.

- Thus, USKOK courts would be taken seriously and a Supreme Court judge would provide additional weight – our source believes.

However, it is entirely certain whether every USKOK court would have its judge from the Supreme Court or if it would be just one judge who would act as a superior to others. If each USKOK court was to have its own judge, then the minister would have to withdraw four Supreme Court judges, seeing how there would be four USKOK courts set up at county courts in Zagreb, Osijek, Split and Rijeka.

Special security for the judge and their family

On the other hand, certain judges believe that this is not such a good idea, because the judge would have to get additional security, for themselves and their family. It is a well-known fact that, for instance, how judges and state prosecutors who deal with the mafia and organised crime end up in Italy.

However, the name or the names of potential judges are still not familiar. If Simonovic decides on judges with criminal practice experience, then his choice would be five judges from the Criminal department of the Supreme Court – Ranko Marijan, Marin Mrcela, Damir Kos, Drazen Tripalo and Zdenko Konjic.

Ranko Marijan was a long-time judge of the Zagreb County Court and he also dealt with organised crime cases. He was supposed to have been appointed president of the Supreme Court in 2005, as Croatian President Stjepan Mesic proposed, however MPs could not agree on his appointment. The objection against him was that he reached political verdicts in the 80s. Seeing how parties could not reach a consensus, Marijan withdrew his candidacy.

Marin Mrcela was a judge at the Zagreb County Court until mid-September, to be precise at the Criminal department, where he dealt with organised crime and war crimes. What is more, since 2006, he has been the Council of Europe`s expert for criminal law, corruption, organised crime and crime processes.

Mrcela is most famous for sentencing Croatian general Mirko Norac to seven years in prison for crimes at the Medak Pocket. However, the most important thing is that Mrcela has a reputation as one of rare judges who do not let politics get in the way of their job.

Judge Drazen Tripalo is famous for the fact that none of his verdicts were revoked and he sentenced Dinko Sakic to 20 years in prison for crimes at Jasenovac.

Zdenko Konjic also headed several high-profile cases, including the case of doctor Asim Kurjak. Konjic was the president of the investigative department of the Zagreb County Court at the time.