The President of the Constitutional Court, Snežana Armenko, uses her position for other purposes, and not to respect the norms of the Constitution and the Law, announced the judges of the Constitutional Court, Budimir Šćepanović, Desanka Lopičić and Dragana Đuranović.
On December 11, Armenko sent a letter to the Parliamentary Committee in which, on the occasion of the address of Committee President Jelena Božović, she stated the birth years of all six judges of the Constitutional Court. Based on that, Božović announced at the Board session that Šćepanović, Lopičić and Đuranović have acquired the condition for pension, according to the Pension and Disability Insurance Act (PIO) and that, in accordance with the Constitution, their judicial function ends.
The judges claim that in their case it is an attempt to "block the work of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro by illegally retiring three judges due to the lack of a quorum".
"Whose demands or intentions are these, and whose tasks should be considered by the politicians and the President of the Constitutional Court herself, who implements them without being based in the Constitution and the Law".
The announcement of Šćepanović, Lopičić and Đuranović is transmitted in its entirety:
"Given that the President of the Constitutional Court, Snežana Armenko, did not schedule a session of the Constitutional Court in a timely manner, even today at the request of three judges, in order to determine and inform the authorized proposer of the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, that one judge of the Constitutional Court, at the end of May 2025, will fulfill conditions for old-age pension, for objective information of the public and relevant entities, we issue the following announcement: The Constitutional Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, at its eleventh session held on December 13 In 2024, he considered the fulfillment of the conditions for acquiring the right to an old-age pension for three judges of the Constitutional Court, although he was not authorized to do so by any regulation.
The Constitution of Montenegro stipulates that the judges of the Constitutional Court are elected and dismissed by the Assembly, namely: two judges on the proposal of the President of Montenegro and five judges on the proposal of the competent working body of the Assembly, according to a public invitation that the proposers carry out. In accordance with this and the provisions of Article 7 paragraph 1 of the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, the President of Montenegro and the competent working body carry out the procedure of nominating judges of the Constitutional Court, only after receiving a notification from the Constitutional Court about the fulfillment of the conditions for the termination of the judge's office, which are determined at the session of the Constitutional Court.
Furthermore, in accordance with the provision of Article 7 paragraph 2 of the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, the Constitutional Court shall notify the proposer who proposed the judge six months before the fulfillment of the conditions for exercising the right to an old-age pension on the fulfillment of the conditions for an old-age pension, i.e. the expiration of the mandate of a judge of the Constitutional Court , that is, before the end of the mandate. The President of Montenegro and the competent working body of the Assembly carry out the procedure of public announcement and nomination of candidates for the election of the number of judges of the Constitutional Court established by the Constitution (5+2). In the specific case, the Constitutional Court is obliged to submit the notification on the fulfillment of the conditions for exercising the right to an old-age pension for two judges to the President of Montenegro, and for one judge to the competent working body of the Parliament, i.e. The Constitutional Committee, when the conditions are met.
From the above, it also follows that the Constitutional Committee, as the competent working body of the Assembly for the implementation of the procedure of public advertising and nomination of candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, is not authorized by any regulation to determine the fulfillment of the conditions for the termination of the judicial function due to the fulfillment of the conditions for acquiring the right to old age pension, which that body unfortunately did by obtaining data on the completed years of life and work experience of judges of the Constitutional Court.
In this way, the Constitutional Committee of the Assembly took over the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court in that legal matter, debating and declaring whether the Labor Law or the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance applies to the termination of the function of a judge of the Constitutional Court, even though the Constitutional Court at its session of 24 of October 2024, in case UI No. 30720, 41/21,10, 22/11 and 22/154, expressed the opinion that from the provisions of the Law on PIO, according to the opinion of the Constitutional Court, it follows that by fulfilling the conditions prescribed by the Law, the insured person acquires the right to receive an old-age or some other type of pension (...), but not the obligation to exercise that right under the force of the law, i.e. that the general conditions prescribed by that law ( completion of years of life and insurance experience) for "acquiring" the right to an old-age pension. We point out that, in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 paragraph 7 of the Constitution and Article 2 paragraph XNUMX of the Law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, the Constitutional Court, and not the president or the president of the Constitutional Court, at the session (judge) of the Constitutional Court determines the fulfillment of the conditions for the termination of office of judges due to the fulfillment of the conditions for acquiring the right to an old-age pension and informs the Assembly, that is, the proposer, six months before the fulfillment of those conditions.
Also, from the provision of Article 8 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, it follows that, only after receiving a notification from the Constitutional Court about the fulfillment of the conditions for exercising the right to an old-age pension, the proposer (the President of Montenegro and the competent working body of the Parliament of Montenegro) shall carry out the procedure of Public Advertising and propose candidates for judge of the Constitutional Court. We point out that at the session of the Constitutional Court on June 21, 2024, it was decided by a majority opinion that at that moment the conditions for notifying any proposer of fulfilling the conditions for the termination of the office of a judge of the Constitutional Court were not met, because the fulfillment of the conditions for the termination of the office of a judge of the Constitutional Court due to the fulfillment of the conditions for old-age pension 3, since the age of 60, it has always been valued according to the Labor Act, i.e. the Labor Relations Act, which prescribes the conditions for termination of employment relationship by force of law (now 66 years old).
However, the President of the Constitutional Court, who is well aware of this position and must respect it, in cooperation with the President of the Constitutional Committee, in violation of the Constitution and the Law, submitted data on the age and length of service of the judges outside the session of the Constitutional Court, and with which letter the judges are not familiar, that is. they do not know its content. In this regard, the President was obliged to schedule a session at which the fulfillment of the conditions for one judge would be determined, and not to submit data on the age and years of service of all judges.
We point out that in the past six decades of practice of the Constitutional Court, all judges have had their functions terminated, in accordance with the Labor Law, so it is very questionable why this dilemma is brought up again in this way by the Constitutional Committee, i.e. of the Assembly, bearing in mind that respected colleague Milorad Gogić retired this year, precisely in this way, at the age of 66, which the Assembly noted without discussion, and five months before that he was elected president of the Constitutional Court, unanimously , which the Assembly, that is, its president, welcomed.
It is interesting that the notification of the Constitutional Court on the fulfillment of the conditions for the retirement of Judge Gogić was supported by the President Snežana Armenko, then as a judge, with her vote, as well as his election as the President of the Constitutional Court. At that time, she had no doubts about the fulfillment of the conditions for the retirement of judge Milorad Gogić, which indicates that she uses the position of president of the Constitutional Court for other purposes, and not for compliance with the norms of the Constitution and the Law. Bearing in mind this behavior of the president of the Constitutional Court, it was expected that, in accordance with the procedure that this court has respected in its work so far, she would schedule a session at which the conditions for the termination of the judicial function for judge Budimir Šćepanović would be determined, which she obviously did not do in a tendentious manner. within the stipulated period, and even today at the request of judges of the Constitutional Court, which is unknown in the practice of this court so far.
As persons who have held responsible positions for decades, we have no desire to engage in politics, however, we have a duty to point out that in this particular case it is an attempt to block the work of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro by illegally retiring three judges due to the lack of a quorum. Whose requests or intentions are these, and whose tasks should be considered by the politicians and the President of the Constitutional Court herself, who implements them without being grounded in the Constitution and the Law," judges Šćepanović, Lopičić and Đuranović wrote in the announcement.
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