Only a third of citizens have confidence in the judiciary

The Montenegrin judiciary still does not enjoy the necessary level of trust of citizens, which, compared to December 2017, fell from 48 to 34 percent, it was announced at the conference Results and effects of judicial reform in Montenegro, which was realized by the Center for Monitoring and Research ( CeMI).

The conference was organized within the project "Reform of the Judiciary: Improving the capacity of civil society organizations in contributing to the preservation of the integrity of the judiciary"

The President of the CeMI Board of Directors, Zlatko Vujović, said that, despite significant progress in the previous period, especially when it comes to shortening the duration of court proceedings and improving executive proceedings and the successful introduction of new institutes, the reform has certain limitations.

"I especially want to emphasize that when we talk about public trust in the judiciary," said Vujović.

According to him, the research conducted by CeMI in March shows that, compared to December 2017, there was a drop in trust in the judiciary from 48 to 34 percent.

It is noticeable, Vujović said, that the percentage of citizens who believe that the court process takes an unnecessarily long time has decreased.

He believes that it is also good that the percentage of those who believe that court processes last as long as necessary has tripled - from nine to 24 percent.

"Although political influence is considered the biggest problem in the work of the courts, the reduction of that percentage from 41 to 34 percent is encouraging," Vujović said.

According to him, an increasing problem, in the opinion of citizens, is also the amount of court costs, which was pointed out by 23 percent of respondents.

"The problem is that the judiciary does not enjoy the necessary level of trust, so we cannot ignore the citizens' concerns and we need to prepare an institutional response," Vujović said.

The President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Medenica, said that reaching a higher level of the rule of law is the goal towards which all the actions of the courts are directed.

"I believe that with the cooperation of judicial institutions and the civil sector, we are building a solid bond for further progress in the efficiency of the judicial system," said Medenica.

She reminded that the right to a trial within a reasonable time has a central place in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

"This was also shown by the analysis of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in relation to Montenegro for the last two years, prepared by the Supreme Court and the Office of the Representative of Montenegro before that court," said Medenica.

As she stated, the Analysis presented recommendations that are valuable for judges, but also for all representatives of state bodies whose jurisdiction is the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Medenica reminded that the Vice President of the European Court, Robert Spano, who was visiting the Supreme Court, emphasized that Montenegro has made significant progress in the field of human rights in the last five years.

"In order to maintain this commendable rating, we need to continue carefully monitoring the practice of the European Court and applying standards in protecting the right to a trial within a reasonable time, as well as all other guaranteed rights," said Medenica.

She said that the monitoring team of CeMI concluded that the path to better efficiency of the judiciary is not one-way, but that it depends on other subjects involved in court processes.

"We will first look at the shortcomings of the court system because, we agree, it is not perfect," said Medenica.

She stated that, in achieving the highest possible quality court system, there are obstacles that are remnants of the previous system.

"The objects that are still active come from as far back as the last decade. They are a professional stain for us, and for a system that has been reformed, rejuvenated and strengthened by quality. Unfortunately, until the oldest issues are resolved, we cannot say that we are completely satisfied with our work," said Medenica.

She said that this year she expects the presidents of the courts to inform her that all cases have been resolved.

"The crisis from the previous period has been resolved, now the last backlogs are being resolved," said Medenica.

She praised the courts for, as she stated, achieving an efficiency rate of over 100 percent, but emphasized that the promptness rate must also be higher.

"Resolving old issues remains an extremely important issue in our integration, and under the constant supervision of our citizens," said Medenica.

As she stated, the question of the efficiency of the court system is closely related to disciplinary responsibility.

Medenica said that a thematic meeting of court presidents was held, where it was concluded that a proactive approach should be taken in submitting proposals for determining disciplinary responsibility and the current situation in the area of ​​old cases.

"The fulfillment of the conclusions would be crucially contributed to by changes in the law on the judicial council and judges, which must be realistic and not illusory, and which will strive to achieve a balance of results in this area," said Medenica.

She pointed out that the provision of a fair and efficient court system is not an ideal, but a necessity in the modern moment.

The Director General of the Directorate for Justice in the Ministry of Justice, Marijana Laković Drašković, pointed out that only an independent, professional and responsible judiciary can be the basis of the overall social and economic progress of countries.

"An efficient and fair judicial system is certainly one of the priorities of the Government and our judiciary," she pointed out.

According to her, the Government expressed its determination to continue improving the independence, impartiality, responsibility and efficiency of the judiciary by adopting the new Justice Reform Strategy.

"Implementation of strategic and operational goals from this strategy, and related activities for its implementation, will represent the continuation of the continuous reform of the judiciary, which has already produced significant results," said Laković Drašković.

She recalled that two representatives of the civil sector participated in the development of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy.

That's why I expect that we will continue with high-quality cooperation, with a significant contribution from the results of projects implemented by non-governmental organizations in this area," added Drašković.