At the session of the Judicial Council today, none of the members of that body asked to discuss the possible dismissal of the Acting President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Vučković, through the miscellaneous item.
After almost two hours, the hearing of Boris Savić ended.
Savić said that so far they have established that evidence is missing or compromised in five cases after the discovery of the tunnel in the High Court depot.
"In those cases, there could be a need for repeated expert reports," Savić said.
A member of the Judicial Council, Rade Ćetković, said that the topic of the session was the situation in the special department, but as a criminal prosecutor of the Basic Court in Podgorica, he stated that the normative framework did not follow the trend of the growth of organized crime.
Member of the Judicial Council, Radoje Korać, stated that they received information about the situation in the special department...
"I think inefficiency is a pressing problem of the judiciary. How to overcome it, you gave some suggestions, and you also said that there would be years of work for the existing judges. There was a crime here that did not exist before, which means that we are working on laws. We need to carry out a serious analysis of the panel in the courts as well. There would be room for an analysis that would show the justification for changing the regulations," Korać said.
He believes that the judges of the Appellate and Supreme Courts should take over part of the cases of the special department.
"I think it's a move that needs to be made right away," he said.
Regarding the depot and the Korać tunnel affair, he expressed his position - "let everyone do their job".
Vučković clarified that in the letter she stated that she was asking the police for increased surveillance due to the reconstruction of the facade and roof...
"The depot was not broken out of the building, but because of the work itself, we asked for increased supervision. That's why we asked the police for the names of the persons working on the project to be checked. We don't have to shift responsibility to each other... let the competent authorities determine," Vučković said.
Minister Kovač responded to Tabaš's position and said that the investigation is ongoing, and that some statements may have been premature.
"I would not talk about the case any more, but it is true that the acting president sent a letter, but the digging of the tunnel was not at the front door, but below it. I leave it to the authorities to determine the omissions," Kovač said.
Savić said that the backlog of cases in the special court is 138, and that on average judges finish about five or six cases a year.
"I would like it if the judges of the Appellate or Supreme Court could take over some cases, so that this figure could be reduced. The minister may be justified in saying that this should have been done earlier," said Savić.
Judge of the Appellate Court and member of the TS Predrag Tabaš, who spent 12 years in the High Court, said that Savić should explain in writing, through an analysis, and ask how many judges are missing in the special department.
"I would encourage you to formally address the matter to the Judicial Council as soon as possible. We should think in that direction that it is not necessary for tripartite panels to judge, but individual judges, so we should think about legal changes in that direction," said Tabaš.
He emphasized that "it is not too great a tragedy if detained persons get out after three years, because there are alternative measures"...
Tabas enumerated and gave guidelines that councils should be formed in the special department so as not to "waste the judges who are expected to try these cases"...
Tabaš said that he believes that Savić is not responsible for the tunnel under the court and that he thinks that some other authorities have failed.
"You have my absolute support in that part. And if they were to talk about your responsibility, it would be measured in parts, and someone else's would be enormous. Each of us who is in charge of counterintelligence protection knows that, and everything was mined outside the court," stated Tabaš's position .
He also mentioned in the letter to Vesna Vučković that the Police Directorate would increase the control of the building and its surroundings due to the works on the facade of the building.
"I believe that everyone should wait until the responsibility of each of us is determined. Let them say, those whose job it is, who is responsible. We should not deal with it," said Vučković.
Acting Supreme Court judge Vesna Vučković stated that several years ago she indicated that this situation would occur in the High Court.
"We pointed out this, but we did not have mechanisms to stop the outflow of judges to higher instances. It is their right, but this is the product of all that," stated Vučković.
Savić emphasized that institutions should protect the integrity of judges.
"Judges have the feeling that they are alone, that no one stands behind them. Their integrity is not protected," said the first man of the High Court in Podgorica.
The minister used the moment to express his view that the CPC has not been overcome, as Savić stated.
"Here is a rather complex problem, this CPC has existed before, but the judges resolved the cases. That's why I think the role of the president of the court is very important," added Kovač, then mentioned the issue of the tunnel.
"Certain institutions have failed here, but we need to know who manages the work of the registry office. This is not a call for resignation or dismissal, but I am pointing out failures in the management of the High Court," Kovač said.
Savić repeated that the CPC is an outdated legal solution, and that this attitude is shared by everyone "who deals with this business".
"The crime we're dealing with now is something completely different, what we have now - clans, SKY communication, that used to and now has nothing to do with each other," said Savić.
On the subject of the tunnel, he said that he does not accept the accusations nor does he feel that the High Court has any responsibility for that event.
"I am personally responsible for forming a commission so we did a census and discovered the tunnel. I am guilty of promising those people monetary compensation for that work, and they were given a polygraph. Some other institutions are to blame for this," Savić maintained his position.
He laughed at the stories about the cameras not being in the depot...
"What kind of cameras are there in the depot, there aren't any, it's unbelievable," said Savić.
Minister of Justice Marko Kovač stated that he had hundreds of questions and comments, so he asked how many people could be released from custody due to the expiry of the three-year deadline.
Savić replied that by the end of the year there are three such cases in which 14 defendants are in custody.
"I'm not saying that these cases will not end, but there is a threat that this could happen. I did not analyze whether these 14 persons can be returned to custody on some other basis," said Savić.
Savić said that the figure of 1.000 people, published by some media, "has nothing to do with the truth".
The minister asked if there are any measures, a strategy of the High Court, so that in the following years, due to the expiration of the three-year period, they would not end up in a situation where these persons are released from custody.
"You had to act more proactively," Kovač was clear.
Savić replied that they know everything in the Judicial Council and that they receive transparent information about their work and the problems they face.
"If you elect someone to the Appellate Court or the Supreme Court, and he worked before that in a special department, then you can't say that you didn't know that someone was prosecuting cases," said Savić.
"Regarding the special department, the backlog is increasing because the influx is not resolved. We have a systemic problem, and we have the largest number of judges, more than ever. The number of judges cannot resolve this influx, there are many reasons why cases are not resolved, and we have a very a large number of custody cases. Those people, who know that they cannot remain in custody for three years after being charged, are trying in every way to obstruct the court process. We need to make fundamental changes to the CPC, time has overtaken it, and if we think we can move forward we must to change some things," said Savić.
He stated that the latest SDT indictment has 21 defendants with 100 factual descriptions.
"These are huge cases, which are difficult to understand at first, and our judges have an average of 25 cases," he said.
Savić vividly stated that "covid hit the special department the hardest and caused a lot of damage"...
"For the last year, we haven't even had a plea agreement from the SDT, which slows down the handling of the case," said Savić.
After Vujačić's presentation and explanation of why there is a six-year delay in the case, the Supreme Court continued the session with the hearing of the President of the High Court in Podgorica, Boris Savić.
Savić presented an analysis according to which in recent years they have almost the same number of received cases.
He emphasized that they still have indications in the cases taken over by young, new judges who he claims have "proven themselves well".
He stated that the backlog of "KS" reports is increasing even though there has been an equal influx of cases over the past few years.
The civil report also has a noticeable drop in the number of resolved cases, and Savić explained that this happened because overtime is not paid.
The session of the Judicial Council began with the discussion of the items of the Agenda, so the discussion on the case pending before the Basic Court in Nikšić since 2017 was opened.
Because of that case, the president of the court in Nikšić, Vukota Vujačić, was invited to the session.
Part of the SS session was held without the presence of the public, so it is not known why this item opened the session.
A session of the Judicial Council of Montenegro is scheduled for today.
There are three items on the proposed agenda of the Judicial Council session - the functioning of the High Court in Podgorica, with a special emphasis on solving cases of organized crime and corruption, as well as other issues of importance for the overall functioning of the judiciary.
This point will be particularly interesting because the President of the High Court Boris Savić was also invited, and after the recent discovery of a secret tunnel dug to the depot of the High Court, from where part of the evidence material, weapons...
The second item on the agenda, as announced, will be a discussion on the proceedings of the Basic Court in Nikšić in case number K. no. 245/2017, and by the proposal of the president of SS Vesna Simović Zvicer, the item "miscellaneous" was also mentioned...
At today's session of the Judicial Council, the issue of the dismissal of the Acting President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Vučković, could very likely be raised, "Vijesti" has learned.
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