Employment Desert

Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, November 9 1998

Who are the people who are suddenly bothered by the inefficiency of the judicial system? This inefficiency has such "a negative effect on the protection of human rights" and "foreign investment" that even the HDZ Presidency recently discussed this topic! They must be in trouble, both here and abroad, if the HDZ leadership suddenly realized that the functioning of the rule of law depends on the judiciary above all. They must be really worried about their interests if they suddenly want an efficient judicial system. Maybe courts are not processing those 500 suits against journalists quickly enough?

Until yesterday, they didn't worry about that. Everything was more-or-less fine. They claimed that the judicial system was good and that only bad-intentioned people could claim otherwise. But, now even their Presidency had to conclude that the judiciary is not working properly. Therefore, they announced that the debate on this topic in the Parliament "must not be perfunctory. The causes of the problem must be discovered and concrete measures for the efficient solution of the problem must be proposed".

However, regardless of how much the Parliament is only a political service of HDZ and the Government, it won't be able to implement this instruction and, anyway, that is not desired. Maybe an opposition representative will spend some time analyzing the causes of the deep crisis of the judicial system in Croatia, but the majority from HDZ, which decides about everything, will not allow the Parliament to go to the bitter end in its discussion and point out that the responsibility for the current situation lies on the ruling party.

Then, what causes of the current situation in the judicial system will be found? That is clear: Communist heritage and cadres from the former system, obsolete legal regulations and old courthouses, since new haven't been built since 1918! If one is willing and the majority from HDZ always is, one can always find reasons why this state does not function as a state of institutions but as a state of single party improvisation and willfulness. Besides, do not the mentioned conclusions emphasize that "the public very often, but without justification, blames HDZ for the slow work of courts"?

But, if it is necessary to establish the main reason for the destruction of the judiciary, than it must be the employment policy that was introduced after the first multi-party elections in 1990; its goal was to turn the judiciary into a political instrument of the ruling party. After that, the State Judicial Council developed a plan for systematic destruction of the judiciary as an institution.

Now, I believe, the time has come to demonstrate to the rulers how eager they were in this destruction. Here is an example.

The former magistrate Natasa Malogorski was born in 1948 in Zagreb and has lived there all her life. She completed primary and high school in Zagreb and in 1972 graduated from Zagreb University Law School. After graduation, she worked as a court clerk and also briefly in the industry. In 1973 she was elected a magistrate in the City Misdemeanors Court. She successfully worked in that position for 17 following years. Then, in 1992 the City Assembly failed to re-elect her (until 1995, magistrates were subject to executive authorities and since then they are a part of the judiciary).

Magistrate Natasa Malogorski was never officially told the reason for her dismissal. Her expertise and experience were certainly not the cause. A year after she stopped working as a magistrate she received "work evaluation" dated June 15 1993. This document among other states: "She performed her official duty professionally, and both qualitatively and quantitatively fulfilled all her work obligations, which resulted in good results at work. With her experience, she contributed to the consistency of judicial practice and helped the Court keep up with current professional problems".

Why wasn't she re-elected then? Unfortunately, the answer is very simple. Because Natasa Malogorski is by origin a Serb. Her father's name is Jovo. Natasa and her two daughters, a college student (aged 19) and a high school student (17) live on his pension, in poverty. From her former husband, whom she divorced, Natasa Malogorski received a Croat surname but that didn't help her. She was unable to find work, sought it in although she tried everywhere: in the end it would always be established that she was a Serb by origin. In vain she pointed out that she was a Zagrebian, that she loves her city, her society and her country. Colleagues supported her, but that was useless. She approached the powerful. She wrote to Vladimir Seks [HDZ vice-president]. She hoped that he would "not be indifferent to injustice," because he "also suffered from injustice in the past". That did not help either.

Natasa Malogorski is a victim of nationalist hatred and the indifference of the society in which she lives.

As far as the situation in the judicial system is concerned, I can conclude that it will start changing for the better when Natasa Malogorski again becomes a magistrate.

Translated on 1/15/99