Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem on Monday sent a letter to Supreme Court President Branko Hrvatin saying that the president of the Zagreb County Court, Judge Ivan Turudic, had insulted and belittled the Croatian Parliament when he told former Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic, who testified in the trial of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on 16 March, the following: "Look, you are not in parliament, I'm warning you to behave."
Sprem believes that Judge Turudic should publicly apologise to the Croatian Parliament.
Sprem said in the letter that Judge Turudic "has insulted and belittled the Croatian Parliament as a representational body of the public and the pillar of the legislative authority, namely the elected deputies, and directly all Croatian citizens who went to the polls and elected their representatives."
Sprem said that as parliament speaker he was compelled to react to this intolerable and unprofessional behaviour of Judge Turudic, saying that under the Croatian Constitution, the state government was organised following the principle of separation of powers, according to which the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government are kept distinct which, Sprem said, "Judge Turudic should know and should not have prejudices that acknowledging constitutional democracy represents the foundation of democracy."
"I believe that when performing his duty as a judge, Turudic expressed his personal impression of the work of the Croatian Parliament, which is unbecoming of his profession, and by having said that he harmed the dignity of and the public trust in the Croatian Parliament and brought into question the reputation and dignity of the court and his own profession," Sprem said in the statement, asking for a public apology.
