Miroslav Šeparović (born 18 July 1958) is a Croatian lawyer who serves as the 5th President of the

Constitutional Court of Croatia The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) is an institution that acts as the interpreter and guardian of the Croatian Constitution and which monitors the conformity of laws with the Constitution as ...

since 13 June 2016, had previously served as a 5th

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

in the

Cabinet of Zlatko Mateša The Sixth Government of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Šesta Vlada Republike Hrvatske) was the Croatian Government cabinet led by Prime Minister Zlatko Mateša. Its members took office on 7 November 1995 by decree of President Franjo Tuđman. The ...

from 1995 to 1998.

Early life and education

Miroslav Šeparović was born on 18 July 1958 in Blato on the island of

Korčula Korčula (, it, Curzola) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after K ...

where he finished elementary and high school. He graduated law from the Zagreb Faculty of Law in 1981. He passed the bar exam in 1983, and notary exam in 1994. He earned his PhD from the same Faculty in 2013 with a thesis entitled, ''The welfare of the child and the principle of the best interests of the child in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Croatian Constitutional Court''.

Career

After graduation, Šeparović worked as a legal clerk in the Blato Winery in Zagreb (1981-1983), and then in the Military building institution Prečko (1984-1986). In 1986, he was appointed judge of the Municipal Court in Zagreb. In 1989, Šeparović got employed in the Ministry of Justice where he worked in the Directorate for Property and Legal Affairs. In 1995, he was appointed Minister. As a Minister, Šeparović participated in the drafting and implementation of regulations in the areas of civil law, the judicial system and criminal law reform. In 1998, he got a job at the Croatian Intelligence Service and become deputy head of the National Security Office. Since year 2000, he worked in private practice as a lawyer. He also served as a defender of general

Mladen Markač Mladen Markač (; born 8 May 1955) is a Croatian retired general. He was a Commander of Croatian Special Police during Operation Storm during the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995), and afterwards held the rank of Colonel General. Later, ...

at the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

. On 14 April 2009, Croatian Parliament appointed him judge of the Constitutional Court.

Other

Šeparović is a member of the Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences.

Awards

He was awarded the

Order of the Croatian Trefoil The Order of the Croatian Trefoil ( hr, Red hrvatskog trolista) is the sixteenth most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on 1 April 1995. The medal is awarded for excellence in war, direct war danger or in ext ...

Homeland War Memorial Medal The Homeland War Memorial ( hr, Spomenica Domovinskog rata) is a Croatian state medal awarded to both Croatian and foreign citizens who participated in the nation's Croatian War of Independence as a volunteer, part of the Croatian Army and Croat ...

Homeland's Gratitude Medal Homeland's Gratitude Medal ( hr, Spomenica domovinske zahvalnosti) is the 19th most important medal in the Croatian honours system. The Homeland's Gratitude Medal has four classes, each for the length of service of 5, 10, 15, and 20 or more yea ...

, Memorial Medal Vukovar and the

Order of Duke Branimir The Order of Duke Branimir ( hr, Red kneza Branimira) is the 7th most important medal given by the Republic of Croatia. The order was founded on April 1, 1995. The medal is awarded for excellence in promoting Croatia in international relations ...

Controversy

In 2018, ''Committee on Ethics in Science and Higher Education'' (CESHE) concluded that Šeparović was guilty of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

since his doctoral thesis contained repeated instances of “incomplete and opaque citations” of other people’s work. In response, Šeparović filed criminal complaints against all the five members of the CESHE because he thought that the Committee members misused their positions and overstepped the jurisdiction which was limited by the Constitutional Court in 2017. Whereas, CESHE chairman Ivica Vilibić considered that it was a new development in an ongoing effort to weaken the Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Separovic, Miroslav 1958 births Living people Croatian judges University of Zagreb alumni Justice ministers of Croatia