The new Minister of Justice, Bojan Božović, will participate in the session of the Judicial Council tomorrow in order to converge positions and clarify ambiguities regarding the determination of the list of candidates for the president of the Supreme Court, a position that has been vacant since the end of 2020.
This is what the Ministry of Justice told "Vijesta", indicating that the amendments to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges, which prescribes the conditions for the election of the President of the Supreme Court, made it possible for a person who is not a judge or state prosecutor, who is twenty years old, to be elected to that position. work experience in different legal jobs, "which is counted cumulatively".
Last week, the Judicial Council could not determine the list of candidates for the president of the Supreme Court at the electronic session because they argued about whether the candidate Valentina Pavličić met the conditions of the competition. As "Vijesti" announced, the dispute at the electronic session arose over the interpretation of Article 33 of the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges, i.e. whether the former representative of the state before the European Court of Human Rights has 20 years of cumulative or continuous experience as a judge, prosecutor, lawyer, notary or in some other legal affairs... The interpretation of a number of members that Pavličić must have continuous experience in legal affairs is the reason why that question was left for the regular session of the Judicial Council.
Apart from Pavličić, the candidates for Supreme Court President are Supreme Court Judge Ana Vuković, Acting President of the Supreme Court Vesna Vučković and President of the Administrative Court Miodrag Pešić.
The Ministry of Justice reminds that the provisions of the Law prescribing the conditions for the election of the President of the Supreme Court have been amended in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission given in the opinion on the Draft Amendments to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges.
In its opinion, the Supreme Court welcomed the changes to the Law, pointing out that "strictly limiting access to the Supreme Court for candidates could lead to the isolation of the judiciary and the support of conservative and rigid opinions, as opposed to openness to new thoughts and concepts, which could be brought in by legal experts from different profiles."
The problem of corruption among judges is one of the main threats to society and the functioning of a democratic state. The general problem of corruption in society cannot be solved without an impeccable reputation of the judiciary... It would be naive to assume that the Montenegrin judiciary is immune to this disease, although my personal belief is that such cases are rare exceptions", said Pavličić.
The Constitution of Montenegro stipulates that the President of the Supreme Court is elected and dismissed by the Judicial Council, on the proposal of the General Session of the Supreme Court. With the amendments to the Law on Judges and the Judicial Council, which were part of the package of laws required for Montenegro to receive from the EU the Report on the Assessment of the Fulfillment of the Temporary Benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR), in addition to expanding the circle of potential candidates for the President of the Supreme Court, now on At the general session of the Supreme Court, each of the judges will be able to select more candidates from the list of applicants - a maximum of three. Until now, it was possible to select only one candidate.
The minister will not participate in the vote
The Ministry indicates that although Minister Božović is of the position that as a representative of the executive power he does not participate in the work of the Judicial Council, but since it is the first session after his appointment, he will participate in it and "try to bring closer the positions of possibly disputed provisions of the law".
"According to the above, the Minister of Justice will not participate in the vote, but will give an interpretation of the provisions of the law and thereby try to clarify any ambiguities, as well as inform the members of the Judicial Council about the intentions of changes to the previously valid law and the communication that was carried out on that occasion with the Venetian commission and the European Commission", said the Ministry.
They point out that the Judicial Council, as a collegial body, will make a decision in accordance with its competences, without the influence of the Minister of Justice on that decision.
Also, they remind that the aforementioned norm was formulated according to the provisions of the Law on State Prosecution regarding the conditions for the election of the Supreme State Prosecutor, in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.
They promise a more efficient and free judiciary
Candidates for the position of President of the Supreme Court submitted their work programs with their application to the competition, in which they promise that, if elected, they will work to make the judiciary more independent (especially financially), more efficient and transparent, to resolve cases faster, and only some of they dealt with a burning problem in the entire society, including the judiciary - corruption.
Problems in the judiciary, when it comes to its independence, impartiality, responsibility and professionalism, have been pointed out for years by the European Commission in its reports on Montenegro.
Valentina Pavličić stated in the program of work, on more than 66 pages, that no matter how harsh and painful it sounds, the statement of the European Commission about the functionality of the Montenegrin judiciary, and thus the Supreme Court, is realistic and true because it was given through the analysis of the situation and the assessments that are given among other things, through the judgments of the European Court.
He reminds that the EC stated in the report for last year that the judicial system of Montenegro is moderately prepared, without progress in the implementation of key reforms and that independence, impartiality, responsibility and professionalism still need to be improved.
She stated in the work program that in order to strengthen the independence of judges and the judiciary, she would take measures such as strengthening the mechanism for protecting the "internal" and "external" independence of judges by protecting individual judges in an appropriate manner from unwanted influences or pressures from other judges. or manager or pressure from other branches of government, especially the executive.
Pavličić: Corruption among judges is one of the main threats to society
One of the measures advocated by Pavličić is the strengthening of the "impression of independence" of the professional and personnel capacities of the courts, by thoroughly analyzing the complaints of the parties. Among the measures he mentions is the systematic monitoring of the staffing needs of individual courts, the strengthening of the financial and spatial independence of the judiciary, and, as he believes, the question of the responsibility of judges must also go beyond disciplinary frameworks, depending on the nature and degree of what has been done.
"Specifically, the problem of corruption among judges is one of the main threats to society and the functioning of a democratic state. The general problem of corruption in society cannot be solved without an impeccable reputation of the judiciary... It would be naive to assume that the Montenegrin judiciary is immune to this disease, although my personal belief is that such cases are rare exceptions", she stated.
He says that, when such cases occur, it is necessary to give a strong judicial response in the form of a final court verdict, and not leave it to the citizens, the public and the passage of time to "judge for themselves".
Pavličić states that in order to strengthen the impartiality and responsibility of judges, she would undertake measures such as ensuring the proper, consistent and complete functioning of the system of random assignment of cases, promotion of ethics and professional behavior of judges, fighting against all forms of corruption in the judiciary...
It would also undertake measures of internal organization by creating a list, structure and analysis of all old cases at the level of the Supreme Court and all courts, and in order to realize the right to a trial within a reasonable time, it would set the time frames necessary for the resolution of certain court cases.
Pavličić states that one of the goals of her work is to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in her work and on cases in the field of organized crime and corruption at all levels of judicial decision-making.
Vuković: The desired effect was not achieved in the judicial reform
Ana Vuković in the work program, which has 11 pages, states that although a certain progress has been made since the adoption of the first Justice Reform Strategy, it is evident that the desired effect has not been achieved in the creation of an independent, impartial, responsible judiciary.
He believes that in order to successfully depoliticize the Judicial Council, it is necessary to supplement the existing provisions of the Law on the Judicial Council and Courts with guarantees of independence and impartiality.
In the work program, she stated that it is necessary to additionally affirm the principle of gender equality and to ensure that the quality of the work of judges, in addition to the existing criteria, is also valued in relation to the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
"It is necessary to improve the transparency of the practice of the Judicial Council, and in this regard to improve ï the existing information system", she said.
He reminds that, although financial independence is one of the vital levers of the independence of the judiciary, the Montenegrin judiciary does not have a decisive role in creating its own budget, but that is decided by the executive power.
He states that the salaries of the holders of judicial functions are still below the average values in the Western Balkans, and that the regulations on the framework standards of work and the determination of the so-called the norms that judges should fulfill during the year, do not objectively take into account the real complexity of cases, especially in cases from the field of organized crime.
He adds that one of the key priorities in terms of increasing efficiency is reducing the number of backlog cases, while the long duration of court proceedings is still a problem.
Vučković: The judiciary provided a key contribution in obtaining IBAR
In the 25-page work program, Vesna Vučković focused more on what was done in the Supreme Court during her acting mandate (drafted Guidelines for the implementation of plea agreements, continued cooperation with NGOs, improved international cooperation...).
"The achievements of the judiciary in the area of the rule of law have significantly contributed to Montenegro's membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. In the previous period, the judiciary provided a concrete and key contribution in obtaining the final benchmarks (report on the fulfillment of temporary benchmarks in chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR) in the accession of Montenegro to the EU), Vučković claims.
He believes that the independence of the judiciary is not complete while the courts depend on the budget determined by the executive power.
She says that if she were to be elected president of the Supreme Court, she would actively participate in the drafting of new legal solutions that would significantly recognize the best judges, to evaluate the quality and quantity of the work of judges as a preventive measure.
He believes that the court must be open to the public through the publication of the most important information about its work, that the PR service should be strengthened and press conferences should be held.
As he says, the president of the Supreme Court must constantly encourage through regular meetings with the presidents of the courts to make the work more efficient, especially in dealing with "red envelope" cases (cases threatened by the statute of limitations).
"A special emphasis should be placed on proceedings in cases of determination and duration of detention. Detention is not and cannot be a punishment, so in situations where the law prescribes it, it should be replaced by another type - a measure of supervision...", he says.
The task for the future president, as she stated, is the formation of the court police in order to improve security in the courts.
Pešić: Reform is decided by others, and the blame is assigned to the courts
Miodrag Pešić believes that the current moment in Montenegrin society requires the Supreme Court to take on the role of the bearer of the transformation of the judiciary and to be accountable to the citizens for the results of this reform, "and not for someone else to decide on the reform, and for the blame for any failure to be attributed to the courts".
"From the EC Report, it can be concluded that the reform of the Montenegrin judiciary did not give the desired result, and that one of the reasons may be an incomplete insight into the possible effect of the proposed reforms of the judicial branch of government, mostly due to the fact that, for various reasons, the best judges were not included in this process, or because the suggestions of those who reviewed the proposed set of reforms were not taken into account," Pešić states in the 16-page work program.
He reminds that the amendments to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges included the age limit for the retirement of judges and changed the method of electing the President of the Supreme Court, but not the provisions that would "guarantee the material independence of judges", so the President of the Supreme Court is expected to channels a proposal for a solution that will guarantee judges a decent income.
He believes that the President of the Supreme Court should insist, through action in the Judicial Council, that the positions of the judiciary are respected as much as possible on the issue of the budget and provide mechanisms that would prevent "penetrating the very essence of the independence of the judiciary".
He will advocate, as he states, for the strengthening of the function of the disciplinary prosecutor, who would guarantee that allegations of violations of the judge's duties are thoroughly investigated.
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