"Hague and Serbia both contaminated with corruption"

BELGRADE The Hague Tribunal's acquittal on appeal of Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac was "a disgrace of justice", says a former judge of the Serbian Supreme Court. Speaking for B92 in Belgrade on Monday, Zoran Ivosevic identified the problem faced by the UN war crimes court as "the same syndrome" as that experienced by Serbia - corruption. "Hague and Serbia both contaminated with corruption" "We too are contaminated with the same disease, both us and them are in metastasis," Ivosevic said in his reaction to the Hague ruling, which he sees as "victory of injustice". "If the executive branch of power is leading the way in that corruption, then we have that as well. There is this unbearable urge that the executive power has to impose itself on the judicial and lawmaking authorities, and act as it did during the time of (Josip) Broz," Ivosevic said, in reference to the late Yugoslav communist dictator. This former judge says that Serbia's courts are "also prone to corruption", and sees the Constitution "as being fairly guilty": "It contains the principle of division (of powers), but it allows the political power's influence over the judicial power." Zoran Ivosevic (B92) B92

"Hague and Serbia both contaminated with corruption"

"We too are contaminated with the same disease, both us and them are in metastasis," Ivošević said in his reaction to the Hague ruling, which he sees as "victory of injustice".

"If the executive branch of power is leading the way in that corruption, then we have that as well. There is this unbearable urge that the executive power has to impose itself on the judicial and lawmaking authorities, and act as it did during the time of (Josip) Broz," Ivošević said, in reference to the late Yugoslav communist dictator.

This former judge says that Serbia's courts are "also prone to corruption", and sees the Constitution "as being fairly guilty":

"It contains the principle of division (of powers), but it allows the political power's influence over the judicial power."