Filipović: We will spend Burić

The current convocation of the Prosecutorial Council (TS) after the interviews with the candidates decided that the Acting Supreme State Prosecutor Drazen Burić be their proposal for the new VDT.

It would be nothing short of a miracle if the proposal of the outgoing TS, which was submitted to the parliament today, received a two-thirds majority in the distribution of political forces, which is why it seems that the increased work of the Prosecutor's Council this summer is a wasted effort.

Burić, who was elected as the successor of the long-standing VDT in an acting capacity on June 11 Ivica Stanković, did not surprise with the decision to apply for the TS competition, which, despite the parliamentary position after the entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, which suspended all previous election procedures in the prosecutor's office, decided on June 23 to publish several advertisements for filling key functions in the prosecution organization.

Burić, who has been in the prosecutor's organization for three decades and a career prosecutor for 26 years, emphasized that his past work and experience are his motivation to apply for the most important position.

Decision on the proposal of the candidate of the Prosecutor's Council, for which he is the Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic recently said that he acts in a "technical mandate", she arrived in parallel with the finalization of the procedure for the election of new members of the TS, which is dealt with by the Parliamentary Committee for the Political System, Judiciary and Administration. If everything goes according to plan, the start of work of the new TS is planned for autumn.

During the interview, the acting VDT emphasized that it is evident that trust in the work of the prosecution has been broken, and that a public perception has been created with which he does not agree.

"I believe that the prosecution has the results of its work, are they good - maybe not, should they be better - they should, but the negative perception is in large part created by the continuous attack of a part of political parties, NGOs and the media, which uncritically and very tendentially create an image on the work of the prosecution. I believe that the passive attitude of the prosecutor's office also contributed to this, therefore, there is an urgent need to take concrete measures to strengthen trust in the work of the prosecutor's office", Burić believes.

Professor Aneta Spaić she asked three questions for Burić - she was interested in his opinion on whether and to what extent the current Prosecutor's Council may have contributed to a bad image with some decisions, for example the extension of the acting status of the former VDT at a delicate moment, but also which cases were found justified or not, the target of public condemnation. She was also interested in the evaluation of the work program of the prosecutors, where they were all evaluated as excellent.

The TS member was also interested in what Burić thinks, what are his chances of success in the election process for VDT if it is known that the Assembly makes the final decision.

"I'm not a politician, I'm recommended by my profession and that's the greatest satisfaction for me. The matter of the Assembly is their matter and let them decide as they wish. If they recognize the profession, I hope that I could be elected," he said.

Burić said for the evaluation of prosecutors that he believes that not everyone can be excellent and that some other criteria and solutions should be prescribed that would perfect the evaluation system.

"There is a problem there, we need to change the grading rules and we started working on that," said Burić.

He also emphasized that the current TS has taken "several steps forward".

"It will be difficult to find a TS composition like this one, I think it is difficult to assemble a better version of this body".

Member of TS Milan Filipović he expressed his regret that "he is afraid that this procedure will only waste Burić".

"I'm afraid this will be a failure. It is unlikely that this idea can be realized due to this fierce division of the political and other where the prosecution is expected to do some other job - to deal with this or to arrest this or that... I think they will ignore our proposal for the appointment of the VDT , but that it will be the acting state for another 6 months, plus another 6 six, especially since there is no political agreement, so I'm sorry in a way that we are wasting Burić", expressed Filipović's position.

In the last procedure of the TS, the proposal of the candidate for the new VDT was lawyer Kovačević, but that procedure was suspended, and it seems that yesterday he answered the questions of TS members with more confidence than during the April interview, where almost he had no objections to the work of the prosecution organization.

Candidate Delević repeated this time that his motive for candidacy was to show that personnel from the security services can reach important positions in the prosecutor's organization, which was not the case until now.

Mugoša: I would pass the same verdict for the coup d'état again

Judge of the Special Division of the High Court Suzana Mugoša after hearing the question of what kind of support she expects in the parliament if there is a proposal for the VDT, bearing in mind that in the first-instance proceedings she condemned the leaders of the Democratic Front (DF) in the "coup d'etat" case, she felt the moment to express her opinion publicly for the first time process, but also disagreement due to the fact that the case was taken away from her in the "repeated procedure without explanation".

"This is a good opportunity for me to say something. I have no lobbies, no support, except for people who appreciate my work. I did not think at all, nor do I expect whether they will vote for me or not, I applied so that I could look them or anyone in the eye tomorrow. DF leaders know very well in what way and how the verdict was revoked. I repeat, if I tried that case again, and they took it from me without explanation, with the same state of facts, I would make the same decision. I am convinced that my decision was completely correct, and the verdict was overturned in a very unusual way. This decision is atypical, I won't talk about why, maybe if I am VDT I will really deal with it. Because doing this and that kind of work, and if you cancel the verdict due to important provisions of the criminal procedure, then it is your duty to write down what those are. You can't just write that the court made a mistake because it didn't specify the factual description of the time of the crime because it was put on January 11 instead of January 18," Mugoša stated almost in one breath.

Deputy President of TS Sonja Boskovic was interested in what Mugoša thought about plea agreements.

"I didn't analyze the numbers, but I know that of all the plea agreements that came to me in court, I rejected 90 or even 95 percent of the agreements. I absolutely do not agree with the way agreements are made, I think that the penal policy is too lenient and that it is inadmissible because the institute knows that this way makes no sense. I think I'm the only one in court who does it that way, maybe I'm wrong and maybe it's my fault because I've always thought for myself and decided the way I think. I was constantly told in the judiciary that I was more of a prosecutor than a judge".