GA: MPs to elect members of the Prosecutor's Council and put the wind behind reforms

Reforms in the field of the state prosecution represent perhaps the biggest challenge on Montenegro's path to membership in the European Union (EU), and it is up to the people's representatives in the Parliament of Montenegro to elect members of the Prosecutor's Council and give the aforementioned reforms a boost, it was announced today from the Civic alliances (GA).

"In the coming period, the reformed state prosecutor's office should contribute to restoring the sense of security among the citizens of Montenegro and show that compliance with the law is the obligation of every individual, regardless of his political affiliation and position in society," the announcement of the GA states.

From that non-governmental organization (NGO), they said that today is the Day of the Montenegrin Prosecutor's Office, which, they add, is celebrated in an atmosphere of crisis and numerous problems in its functioning.

"The Montenegrin Prosecutor's Office is blocked, largely caused by the excessive duration of the procedure for adopting amendments to the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, which had to be adopted earlier, and which did not bring the news and the path to the independence of the prosecutor's office that were expected. In addition, the very fact that certain amendments and amendments in conflict with the Constitution, is even more worrying. This concern was also highlighted by the Venice Commission, considering that the majority of the members of the Prosecutor's Council (5 prominent lawyers and 1 representative of the Ministry of Justice) will be elected by a simple majority in the Parliament. Such a way of electing members of the Prosecutor's Council questions the independent capacity of that body in relation to the Parliament, as well as its independence, above all from any kind of political influence. Another reason why the adoption of the mentioned amendments is important and urgent is the fact that in the previous year all prosecutors were rated with the highest rating, while numerous judgments were compromised and unsustainable precisely because of the bad indictments on which they were based, which indicates an obvious collision of practice with the prosecutors' ratings," the GA said.

They also said that it is necessary to stand in the way of the practice that has been established regarding the solution of the housing issue to individual prosecutors by the Government without clear criteria.

"This primarily undermines the independence of the prosecution in relation to the executive branch of government, while on the other hand, the Government thus bypasses the Prosecutorial Council, which, based on clearly defined criteria, should carry out these procedures. All this has led to the fact that the Prosecutorial Council has been did not meet, and in this regard we call on all parliamentary parties to put their capacities at the service of the citizens and direct the political dialogue towards the resolution of disputed issues, such as the completion of the election of the missing members of the Prosecutor's Council", stated the GA.

The NGO also said that radical changes are needed in the practice of the prosecution in terms of increasing the transparency and credibility of the judicial response to organized crime, through a more deterrent and consistent sanctioning policy.

"In this regard, it is necessary to limit the use of plea negotiations, which, given that it naturally leads to lighter sentences, contributes to the revolt of citizens when it comes to the perpetrators of crimes from the domain of organized crime, but also to the general lower trust of citizens in In spite of some progress in terms of organized crime, as pointed out by the European Commission in this year's report for Montenegro, it is necessary to continue to increase efficiency in those investigations, and to increase both human and technical capacities in order to make this possible. , it is necessary to review the legal and operational approach to financial investigations, money laundering and asset confiscation, in order to harmonize them with EU and international standards," said the GA.

According to them, it is even more worrying that this year is the sixth year since the adoption of the State Prosecutor's Office's War Crimes Investigation Strategy, and that, as they say from the GA, concrete results in that part were missing precisely because of the state prosecutor's passivity.

"Therefore, on this day, we once again remind you of the importance of an efficient prosecution in Crmogorsk society, and therefore of the need for even greater efforts in the direction of achieving the independence of the prosecution and increasing its capacity, which will ultimately pave the way for us to the EU," concludes the GA announcement.