The new Decision on the number of prosecutors in the Special State Prosecutor's Office stipulates that the chief special prosecutor will work Vladimir Novović and 16 instead of the current 13 special prosecutors, but the personnel increase will depend first on the number of chairs, that is, on the move of the SDT to a new space so that the new prosecutors have a place to work.
The decision entered into force at the beginning of December last year, but the Prosecutor's Council has not yet published a public advertisement to fill vacant positions in the SDT.
"Vijesti" was unofficially told that the advertisement for filling the number of special prosecutors is being postponed precisely because of the lack of work space and non-standard offices in which the Special State Prosecutor's Office has been working for years, whose competence is work on complex cases of organized crime, corruption, money laundering and war crimes. ..
The fact that something must be done quickly to fill the number of special prosecutors is also clear due to the fact that most of the prosecutors, who have been sent to the SDT by the decision of the Prosecutorial Council, already at the beginning of June, the two-year period that they can legally work at the most according to Article 24 of the Law on Special Prosecutor's Office expires .
In addition to the chief special prosecutor, the SDT is currently staffed by prosecutors assigned to that prosecutor's office - Jovan Vukotić, Vukas Radonjić, Siniša Milić, Jelena Protić i Tanja Čolan Deretic, and previously elected special prosecutors Živko Savović, Marija Raspopović, Nataša Bošković, Sanja Jovićević, Zorica Milanović, Miroslav Turković, Zoran Vučinić and Miloš Šoškić.
Special prosecutor Ljiljana Lakić she was sent to the Judicial and Prosecution Training Center, while special prosecutors were temporarily suspended due to criminal proceedings Sasa Cadjenovic i Lidija Mitrović.
The decision to increase the number of special prosecutors was made on the initiative of the former Acting Supreme State Prosecutor Tatjane Begović, which on October 19, 2023 submitted a proposal to change the number of state prosecutors in the Special State Prosecutor's Office, and then the Prosecutorial Council confirmed it on November 17.
The decision on the number of state prosecutors was published at the end of last year in the Official Gazette, and the number of prosecutors in all prosecutor's offices in the country was determined based on the Rulebook on the framework work standards for determining the required number of state prosecutors and civil servants and employees in the state prosecutor's office.
56 prosecutors are missing
At the moment, there are 56 prosecutors missing in Montenegro, and several prosecutors have one or two prosecutors each, who do all the work.
In the past year, the Prosecutor's Council also had to deal with a very low number of applications from candidates to join the prosecutor's organization, so some advertisements received twice as few lawyers as requested in the invitations.
According to the new Decision on the number of state prosecutors in the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, a position is provided for the newly elected supreme state prosecutor Milorad Marković and 10 more prosecutors, and currently the VDT and six prosecutors work in that prosecution.
Interviews are pending to fill three vacant positions of the umbrella body in the prosecutor's organization, and the manager of the ODT Podgorica applied for the advertisement from June 2021, which was only available at the end of 2023. Dusko Milanović, special prosecutor Sanja Jovićević, prosecutor from Ulcinj Vojislav Grujić and the prosecutor from Nikšić Vjera Mićunović.
Although the interviews with them were supposed to be published in January, this did not happen, and the new VDT, in the announcement of the session, which he scheduled for February 7, did not include that work in the agenda of the Prosecutor's Council.
According to the Decision in the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje, a manager and six prosecutors are foreseen, which means that compared to the current situation, two prosecutors are missing there.
In the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, a manager and sixteen state prosecutors are planned, and at the moment the chief works there Beautiful Medenica and 10 prosecutors, while two prosecutors, Čolan Deretić and Protić, were referred to the SDT.
Big deficit in Podgorica
In the largest prosecutor's office in terms of the number of prosecutors, but also of cases - ODT Podgorica, the new Decision on the number of prosecutors stipulates that a manager and 24 prosecutors work, and if that number is compared with the current situation, it is not difficult to conclude that there is a huge personnel deficit.
A manager and 12 prosecutors are currently working in ODT Podgorica, but they will probably run out of prosecutors as early as next Wednesday. Denis Zvrka who is the only candidate for the head of the Ulcinj Prosecutor's Office, and the re-election of several prosecutors is also pending...
In the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bar, it is planned to have a manager and seven prosecutors, in Berana - a manager and four prosecutors, in ODT Bijelo Polje the prosecutor's work should be performed by the chief and seven state prosecutors, while in Nikšić and Kotor, in addition to the manager, positions are also planned for eight and nine prosecutors respectively.
At ODT Kolašin, she has been working alone as a prosecutor for years Maja Šćepanović, and in ODT Plav, a manager and one prosecutor are planned.
In Pljevlje it is planned - a manager and four prosecutors, the ODT in Rožaje will have one less prosecutor, while in Ulcinj, if a manager is elected, two more prosecutors would be missing compared to the current situation.
In the prosecutor's offices of Herceg Novi and Cetinje, a manager and three state prosecutors are expected to work...
Five resigned last year, many are awaiting re-election
During the last year, five prosecutors submitted their resignations, and as many as three decided to end their career as prosecutors at the end of 2023.
The prosecutor from Pljevlja Nataša Bajčeta, the prosecutor from the Higher State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, Željko Tomković, and the prosecutor from Podgorica who was assigned to Cetinje, Haris Šabotić, submitted their resignations.
Prosecutors from Bijelo Polje Ljubinka Madžgalj and Hasan Lukač submitted their resignations last year, before retiring, and in June, prosecutor Vladimir Savović from Ulcinj was appointed as a prosecutor at his personal request.
Radmila Ćuković ceased to be a prosecutor due to her retirement last year, and due to exercising her right to an old-age pension, the Supreme Court noted the termination to Mirko Bulatović and Vesna Jovićević, who therefore filed a complaint with the Administrative Court.
At the end of last year, the prosecutor's organization faced a series of terminations of prosecutorial functions due to the expiration of the four-year term of the prosecutors, who are now awaiting re-election.
The mandate of the prosecutor of ODT Podgorica, who was referred to SDT Maja Janković, Jelena Vučetić and Danijela Đuković from Bijelo Polje, Bisera Radonjić and Vitomir Magovčević from ODT Bar, Ivana Petrušić Vukašević from ODT Podgorica and Rajko Lopičić from Nikšić Prosecutor's Office...
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