Unethical Battle for the Position of President of the Largest Court

Faith The message from the constitutional complaint of Judge Stubičar regarding the election of the president of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb is unequivocal: citizens, do not trust in judicial protection.

Silvija Sunčana Stubičar, a judge at the Municipal Court in Zagreb, writes: ‘By checking at the Administrative Court’s registry, I found that on March 18, 2010, cases received in 2006 were assigned for processing.’ Judge Stubičar wrote this in a constitutional complaint challenging the decision to appoint her opponent Mirela Mijoč as president of the Municipal Court in Zagreb. The constitutional complaint demonstrates that submitting a Request for the Protection of Constitutionally Guaranteed Rights to the Administrative Court is pointless. If this request is submitted now, it will be assigned for processing in 2014, when Judge Mijoč’s disputed term will expire. Therefore, dissatisfied Judge Stubičar proposes to the Constitutional Court to disregard the pointless procedure at the Administrative Court and temporarily suspend the legal effects of Minister Šimonović’s decision regarding the disputed appointment of opponent Mijoč as president of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb.

Judicial Reputation If Silvija Sunčana Stubičar, as a judge, reasonably questions faith in the protection of (her) rights at the Administrative Court, why should all other parties, i.e., citizens who are not judges, have faith in legal protection at that court? The message from Judge Stubičar’s constitutional complaint is unequivocal: citizens should not trust in the protection of their rights at the Administrative Court. In a conversation, Judge Stubičar explained that she is convinced that the Constitutional Court will resolve her constitutional complaint and ‘temporarily suspend the legal effects of Minister Šimonović’s decision regarding the disputed appointment of opponent Mijoč as president of the largest municipal court in Croatia.’ Judge Stubičar believes that her colleagues at the Constitutional Court will not jeopardize their reputation to cover up the disputed appointment of Judge Mijoč.

I wonder what reputation the judges of the Constitutional Court have after the decisions in the case of the disputed election of Slavica Banić as a judge of that court, decisions regarding parking fees, or decisions about ‘taxes’? Judge Stubičar does not trust the Administrative Court but trusts the Constitutional Court. Personally, I believe that one should not trust either the Administrative or the Constitutional Court, and as a professional journalist, I think this should be published. From Judge Stubičar’s constitutional complaint, it is evident that one should not trust even the largest Municipal Civil Court in Croatia. First, it is evident that Ivica Pezo was dismissed from the position of president of the Municipal Court in Zagreb because during his term, suspicions arose that he committed a corrupt criminal offense for which criminal proceedings are being conducted against him.

 Acting President Mijoč After this dismissal, the acting president of the court is Mirela Mijoč, who, according to the claims in the constitutional complaint, assigned herself cases that can be resolved quickly and easily, while assigning her opponent cases that cannot be resolved quickly in such large numbers. Judge Mijoč reportedly resolved 6,937 cases in 2009 and achieved 420.4 percent of the norm. Formally, however, a much bigger problem is that Acting Judge Mijoč is also a member of the Judicial Council that evaluated the ‘performance of judicial duties’ of candidates for the president of the Municipal Court. Acting Judge Mijoč, as stated in the constitutional complaint, did not recuse herself from the Judicial Council’s work when evaluating her opponent and herself. All these manipulations occurred in front of the eyes of 200 judges and state officials who are law graduates, i.e., a total of 823 employees at the Municipal Court in Zagreb. I believe that all these silent and blind judges and court employees should also not be trusted. The real problem is that only citizens who believe in the judiciary voluntarily agree to enforce judgments.

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