Dizdarević: Judges come to trials unprepared, they don't know who is defending whom...

The lawyer from Bijelo Polje, Kasim Dizdarević, presented a number of deficiencies he noticed during his work in Montenegrin courtrooms before the parliamentary Committee for Political System, Judiciary and Administration, explaining that the future Judicial Council expects great obligations in order to improve the situation in the judiciary.

"Judges come to trials unprepared, they don't know who is defending whom, they don't know whether the accused persons are in custody or are defending themselves from freedom... that, in my opinion, has reached the scale of the phenomenon. How to change it - there are several modalities - re-election, but we have to first, change the Constitution because we now have the prescribed permanency of office. Other modalities are lustration - bearing in mind the age of judges, that model would not be adequate, and that is why my position is that we should enter into a form of differentiation in terms of expertise, work, responsibility and disciplinary because it is it is unforgivable that the judge is late for trials and that he is constantly rushing somewhere and looking at the clock," said Dizdarević, who spent over 35 years in the judiciary as a judge and later as a lawyer.

He sees the improvement of the situation through the improvement of the material condition of judges, but also the determination of a special court budget within the Judicial Council for solving housing issues...

MP Jovan Vučurović was interested in whether there are other cases in the judiciary, such as the criminal proceedings against the former President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica and the former President of the Court of Appeal Blaž Jovanić, and Vladan Raičević asked what he thought about "veting"...

"Re-election, I have already talked about it. The second is differentiation, there are judges who are engaged in activities that are not specific to that calling. Care must be taken to reduce the judicial network - there are too many courts in Montenegro. We should all try to individually contribute to the judiciary restore dignity," said Dizdarević.

Committee President Momo Koprivica was interested in what candidate Dizdarević would do to contribute to the recovery of the judiciary...

"My views on the judiciary are not new - the former president's third term was unconstitutional, but some who are speaking now were not earlier than they should have been. It was not without reason that I said that the current convocation of the Judicial Council should suspend the conduct of personnel policy. We in the courts today have presidents, who are spending their third term, but do not resign themselves. For me, there is no dilemma, it is completely unconstitutional," said Dizdarević.

Today's consultative hearing of candidates is attended by much fewer members of the Parliamentary Committee than yesterday during the first session...

Drobnjak: We have excellent legislation, but the problem is how and by whom it is applied

Candidate Ivan Drobnjak, who started his career as a police officer and at the same time graduated from the Faculty of Law, stated that he is now also in doctoral studies at the Faculty of Security.

During his career in the Police Directorate/Ministry of Internal Affairs, he went through all segments of the public security service, and as he stated, now is the moment for a new step forward in his career, and he also emphasized that he noticed shortcomings in the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges when it comes to electing judges to office for the first time, training...

MP Jovan Vučurović asked Drobnjak how he thinks it would be possible to depoliticize the judiciary, and how to protect judges from the influence of politics and crime.

"In order not to speculate, we need to have facts and evidence. Through thorough work within the Judicial Council, I believe that it can be determined that a certain judge is biased, subtly politically engaged, or that a mistake crept up on him. I believe that this can be determined and then action is taken certain procedures. We have excellent legislation, but the problem is how and by whom it is applied. There is no need to be clever, you just need to approach the job in your own way. A man who is brave, honest and knows his job is not a target to be pressured. And those who work, know who is suitable for exerting pressure. A judge who is clean, professional, brave knows that the job is hardly a target to be pressured. It should be seen that some cases are reviewed and whoever passes the sieve should stay. The point is to establish individual responsibility, and if we do that, maybe someone will recognize himself and leave," said Drobnjak.

Duraković: Vučković was not understanding towards the young judges

The third candidate for the Judicial Council from among the distinguished lawyer Elvis Duraković started his career as an intern and associate in the Beran court, and then in 2012 he was elected as a judge in the Basic Court in Kotor where he tried litigation.

"When we were elected, the then president of the court in Kotor, Branko Vučković, through the so-called random allocation of cases, assigned to me and my colleague Jovan Stanković, young judges, 100 cases that other judges/litigators had given in order to hire new judges. These were mostly cases from each 3-4 volumes older than four years, and acting in those cases I made a trade in terms of property-legal relations. The president at that time had no understanding towards young judges, and the situation for which I asked for dismissal was that he invited me to cabinet and I was told that there had been no disciplinary proceedings for a long time, so someone had to be prosecuted, and considering that I had a dozen decisions that I did not make within the legal deadline of 30 days, it was an ideal opportunity to put me and two judges in the drum for starting disciplinary proceedings At that moment, when the disciplinary proceedings were initiated, I said that I did not want a stain on my career, and then I sent a document for the Judicial Council to investigate the behavior of the president at that time, because I was not even given to use vacation when I wanted. After my resignation, I opened a law office in Bar," said Duraković.

He emphasized that since the time when disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him and two other judges from Kotor, "I am not aware of any such proceedings against any judge"...

And the third candidate is only asked questions by Vučurović and Raičević, who, in addition to the president and deputy of the Committee, are the only ones following today's consultative hearing.

In response to a question from Miloš Nikolić, candidate Duraković said that he believes that if he were a member of the Judicial Council, he would fight for increasing the responsibility of judges and presidents of courts, for greater openness and for improving working conditions and equipping rooms for conducting court proceedings. "The most important thing to take into account is the autonomy and independence of judges and the feeling that they belong to the bright spot of the state - the judiciary," said Duraković.

Golubović: Where does someone get the will to run for a third term

The fourth candidate, Vukoman Golubović, said in the introductory part that during yesterday's presentation by his colleague/candidate Tomislav Dedić, you could "see and understand what the judicial personnel were like in some earlier times, that is more to me than electing me as a member of the Judicial Council".

"When you gave power to the Judicial Council, but the fact is that something must be done in the work of that body. When I was elected president of the High Court in Bijelo Polje, that court was declared the most up-to-date court of that year in 2000. When I first became the president of the Court of Appeal, we had we immediately handled around 750 cases, and later another 250, and the fact that in 2009, when I left that court, every judge was completing a double standard, shows how important a man and his commitment are. Without great work, we cannot get out of this situation in where the judiciary is located. The first thing that should be done, and whoever you choose from these 34 are all excellent lawyers"

Draginja Vuksanović-Stanković said that Vesna Medenica had the key word in the Judicial Council, and that the others in the Judicial Council "were not allowed to hear from her alive".

"The grades of the candidates were erased and written as she wanted. And the moment when she was elected president of the Supreme Court by the decision of three presidents, but all of you judges were silent, honor to the exceptions. Was her third mandate in line with the Constitution," she asked is Vuksanovic.

Candidate Golubović said that that question was answered by many distinguished lawyers, but he wondered "where did someone get the will to apply for a third term", however he only directly answered "that it was not constitutional" after the comment of MP Vuksanović-Stanković that from a doctor of law expects a direct answer to a question that even a student after the first year of law would have to know.

Šćepanović: The whole system did not serve one policy, to strengthen control over the work of courts and judges

Today's last candidate was Veselin Šćepanović, who said that he was an intern at the MUP for a year, then he was a substitute prosecutor at the ODT in Bar for two terms, after which he was a judge in that city from 2005 to 2014. . Then he resigned and moved to public enforcement.

MP Miloš Nikolić asked Šćepanović what he would do if he could change the situation in the judicial branch of government.

"I have always wondered why someone within the Judicial Council does not form a commission similar to the Department of Internal Control of the MUP, which would deal with the investigation of why court proceedings are delayed and why the statute of limitations occurs," Šćepanović said.

MP Raičević was interested in the candidate's opinion on whether the judicial system has been under the influence of one policy for years.

"I don't think the entire system served one policy. We could state that individuals at the top did not meet expectations but worked in their personal interest or in the interest of other organizations. This should be determined during the criminal proceedings. Over 90 percent work honorably and honestly, but there are individuals who work under the influence," Šćepanović said.

He said that control of the work of courts and judges should be strengthened.