Supreme Court President Valentina Pavličić said that despite all the difficulties, there is visible and measurable progress in the judicial system.
"We are no longer a system that creates a backlog, but one that solves it. We are a system that already has convictions in the areas of organized crime, corruption, money laundering and war crimes," Pavličić said at the semi-annual press conference.
She emphasized that the Supreme Court is currently missing seven judges, which is a serious number, but that despite this, they have managed to achieve promptness in all reports.
"It will be difficult to maintain this, because as of yesterday we have been without a judge who was elected as a judge of the Constitutional Court," said the head of the judicial branch of government.
She warned about the huge number of administrative lawsuits, which, she emphasized, creates a great burden, as well as a financial burden for the state.
"The focus of all judges was also the issue of cases older than three years, and at this moment we have resolved 6.335 old cases," she said, emphasizing that there is a high efficiency rate at the level of all courts and that the average performance is maintained at a high 97 percent.
She explained that the results show a great burden and stated that they have inherited challenges, which they do not want to justify or avoid.
"The reflection of a society is reflected in a judicial system," she said, and reiterated that the major challenges in the work are staffing, space, and budget deficits.
The press conference is attended by the presidents of the Court of Appeal, the High Court in Podgorica, as well as the heads of the Commercial and Administrative Courts.
Pavličić said that they elected representatives to the Judicial Council in a timely manner, which began its new term yesterday.
She emphasized that there is a lack of courtrooms, offices and court depots and that they are eagerly awaiting a signal from the Government to begin addressing these problems.
Vukčević: The Court of Appeals is missing five judges
Acting President of the Court of Appeal Danijela Vukčević said that in six months, 13 final verdicts in the field of organized crime and corruption have been issued.
She stated that a verdict had been reached in the case against the fugitive head of the Kavač clan, Radoje Zvicer.
Vukčević said that the court is short of five judges, and in addition to the deficit in judicial staff, they are facing a huge influx of applicants.
She emphasized that the dismissal of the former head of the court, Mirjana Popović, did not affect the results, but that in the past two and a half months, as she said, there has been an increase in the number of resolved cases.
Radović: Lack of courtrooms a serious problem
The President of the Higher Court in Podgorica, Zoran Radović, stated that in just 15 days, from July 1 to 15, verdicts were announced almost every day or proceedings were in the final phase.
"As of July 15, the efficiency rate in the Special Department was over 97 percent, and in just 15 days, eight verdicts were written. Currently, 13 verdicts are being drafted and I expect them to be published by the end of August. By the end of the year, it is expected that the proceedings will reach final arguments in as many as 40 cases," said Radović.
He stated that in the past period they had four convictions for money laundering, which had not happened in total for an entire decade in that area.
He stressed that the lack of courtrooms is a serious problem and that judges need serious skills to even schedule hearings.
He praised the 115 percent efficiency rate in the criminal department, after which he returned to the spatial deficit in the number of offices, registry offices, depots...
Radović stated that they are eagerly awaiting the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, which should reduce the number of procedural abuses.
He is not satisfied with the resolution of the "red envelopes", and believes that the election of two judges to the second-instance criminal department will reduce the serious backlog.
Pešić: Administrative Court overwhelmed by lawsuits from an NGO
The President of the Administrative Court, Miodrag Pešić, stated that this court represents an important pillar in the judicial system and stated that it is a court that directly influences the trust of citizens.
Pešić stated that the court is faced with a large influx of lawsuits, and considering the influx of cases, he said that the judges in that court are the most burdened.
"Each judge is responsible for 2.000 cases, and the norm is 350," he said.
Pešić said that the Administrative Court is overwhelmed with lawsuits from an NGO, and that this year alone, that organization has filed over 3.000 cases due to the "silence of the administration."
While speaking about this enormous influx, Pešić also showed a photograph showing a huge number of files on lawsuits filed by that NGO.
Pešić said that each of the 13 judges exceeded the norm multiple times, which led to high efficiency of the administrative judiciary.
"We cannot stop there, the Administrative Court has initiated the reorganization of the administrative judiciary, but until a permanent solution is found, we have requested an increase in the number of judges by at least three more, because this court should have as many as 38 judges," Pešić said.
He promised to continue fighting even in limited conditions.
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