Burić and after Burić?

Acting Supreme State Prosecutor (VDT) Dražen Burić applied to the public invitation of the Prosecutorial Council (TS) for a new acting mandate, in order to fill a key position in the umbrella prosecutorial organization until its new head is elected, "Vijesti" has learned.

In addition to Burić, a lawyer from Cetinje, Aleksandar Kovačević, responded to the public invitation of the Secretariat of the TS, who had previously been in the race for VDT, and at one point, in the summer of 2020, was also a proposal of the last convocation of the TS for of VDT.

Kovačević confirmed to "Vijesti" that he was a candidate.

"Once you start something, you shouldn't give up," he said briefly.

TS members have not yet received from the Secretariat the data on who all applied for the five-day public invitation to temporarily fill the position of VDT.

Due to a network failure, the e-mail addresses of state institutions did not work yesterday, so they left the possibility in the Secretariat that someone else may have submitted the documentation.

At its constitutive session on January 24, the TS made a decision to publish on its website on the same day an invitation to those interested in performing the function of acting VDT, who meet the conditions prescribed by Article 43 of the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, within five days from the date of publication. , send resumes.

On that day, they also requested that the TS Secretariat provide them with the resumes of the prosecutors, who have the conditions to fill the position of VDT, in order to get better acquainted with their work references, but also to exclude the possibility of applying for someone who has the conditions for the age pension.

Burić's candidacy was expected after the position he expressed at the constituent session of the TS, where he emphasized that his "term of acting VDT is forcibly terminated, because according to the old Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, he was designated for the acting position until the election of the new VDT ".

On that day, Burić and his colleagues from the prosecutor's organization were adamant not to allow other members of the TS to state the termination of his acting mandate, without first appointing his successor, from the prosecutor's organization.

"The acting VDT cannot be appointed outside the prosecution organization, and this is clearly stated in Article 78 of the Law on State Prosecution, which refers to the oath, because in order to be a prosecutor, one must be elected, not appointed," said Burić. .

In this way, TS members from the prosecutor's organization forewarned the possibility that until the election of the new acting VDT, the umbrella position in the prosecutor's organization would remain vacant for some time, and that is why they were persistent in the request that the end of Burić's mandate be declared on that very day and determined new acting

TS members from the ranks of distinguished lawyers, Siniša Gazivoda, Miloš Vuksanović, Borivoje Đukanović and Filip Jovović, the recent representative of the Ministry of Justice Boris Marić and TS member from the NGO Stevo Muk, had a unified view that the constitutive session should be interrupted, in order to a five-day deadline was given for the submission of candidacies for the position of acting VDT.

The proposal for VDT has been in parliament since July

Since the end of July last year, Burić has been the proposal of the TS for the VDT, and that established list was then sent to the Assembly.

A few days after that decision of the TS, by the decision of the President of the Assembly Aleksa Bečić, a new convocation of the TS was formed, and then an incomplete TS was declared.

For months, the political games surrounding the election of members of the new TS were waited for to end, so the proposal of the old TS that Burić be a candidate for the VDT was never discussed in the parliament.

"The proposal for VDT has been in parliament since this summer," Burić repeated several times at the constituent session of the TS.

Milović is waiting for Bečić

The continuation of the TS constitutive session is scheduled for February 5, but after Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić dismissed Boris Marić from the position of State Secretary, who consequently lost his position in the TS, it is uncertain whether his successor in the Ministry of Justice, Andrej Milović to get the green light from the President of the Assembly Aleksa Bečić to become a new member of the TS by Saturday.

"News" from the Assembly did not answer whether and when Bečić will declare Milović a member of the TS, which he is entitled to according to his function.

In the continuation of the TS session, the termination of Burić's acting mandate should be immediately noted, after which he will request an exemption during the election of his successor.

In the current constellation of forces in the Prosecutor's Council, the members of the prosecutor's organization will have, without Burić, one less member compared to the distinguished lawyers in the TS (four to five).

Six out of a total of 11 members of that body must vote for him.