Habijan announces disciplinary measures against judges in the Aleksić case

There has been a strong public outcry after two judges failed to bring to trial a convicted murderer for more than two years, only for him to commit murder again this past weekend. The tragedy has left the town of Drniš is shock and anger.

An extraordinary inspection into two Municipal Court judges in Šibenik has revealed that they failed to bring an indictment against Kristijan Aleksić to trial for more than two years. This past weekend, Aleksić - who had already been convicted of murder, killed 19 year-old Luka Milovac in the town of Drniš.

Justice Minister Damir Habijan announced today that he will initiate disciplinary proceedings against the two judges, as well as legal amendments that would introduce the institution of life imprisonment: "It has been determined that two judicial officials, or rather two judges, performed their duties improperly, given that the case in question had been pending for more than six months with one judge without any action being taken, while in the case of the other judge, it was pending for almost one year and seven months without any action taken. Based on the judicial inspection's findings, as the relevant minister and in accordance with the law, I will initiate disciplinary proceedings before the State Judicial Council."

The minister did not however, submit his resignation.

Opening Thursday's cabinet session, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković once again condemned the murder of young Luka Milovac, and announced measures to improve the judicial system, especially in the area of determining protective measures, which clearly fell short in the Aleksić case: "Luka was a high school senior, a basketball player and a young man at the precipice of the true beginnings of his life. This murder has justly evoked the indignation of the Croatian public, and opened legitimate questions about how to improve the judicial system so as to prevent these kinds of situations in the future."

Source: HRT