Katnić is being sent into retirement?

After Maja Jovanović was elected as the new acting head of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, the door was opened for the members of the Prosecutorial Council (TS) to receive a notice to send Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoj Katnić to retirement, "Vijesti" has learned.

According to the amended Article 105 of the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, Jovanović is obliged to immediately inform the TS whether, by reviewing the personnel biography, the conditions have been met for Katnić to leave his post after six and a half years, because he "met the conditions for exercising the right to an old-age pension". ...

Apart from Katnić, there will also be a list with the names of several other prosecutors on the table of the Supreme Court, who have the conditions to exercise the right to an old-age pension and leave office.

Katnić has been the head of the SDT since June 23, 2015, and during his mandate there were numerous criticisms from political parties, the NGO sector and the media - that he is "on the back of the DPS's heritage", and that there are no changes in the prosecution organization while " he does not leave the prosecutor's office".

Katnić repeated several times last year that he does not have the conditions to retire, but that he can work until he turns 66.

Dritan Abazović, Vice President of the Technical Government, announced yesterday that fundamental changes are underway in the prosecutor's organization, who immediately welcomed the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to elect prosecutor Jovanović to lead the prosecution in an acting mandate.

"I believe that the next important decisions will be made without delay, as well as that they will initiate fundamental changes in this institution, with an emphasis on the strong fight against corruption and organized crime," wrote Abazović on Twitter.

He also stated that he was happy with the consensus regarding justice, and that with the election of the new acting VDT, "the Prosecutor's Council showed professionalism and integrity, and responded to criticism in the best possible way."

Jovanović: They did me a great honor

Maja Jovanović briefly told "Vijesta" that she was taken aback by the decision of the TS, but that she is a professional and that she accepted with great pleasure to lead the prosecution organization for the next six months.

"They showed me a great honor and I hope that I will live up to the expectations. I am a professional, a career prosecutor, I am here - where I am", said prosecutor Jovanović briefly.

In the first hours of her mandate, prosecutor Jovanović could not answer "Vijesta" which will be her first professional moves after assuming office.

Lawyers in a wedge, prosecutors in a slab

The continuation of the constitutive session was marked by a discussion between TS members from the prosecutor's organization on the one hand and distinguished lawyers, NGO members and representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights on the other, who spent more than an hour trying to agree on the sequence of procedural matters.

Prominent lawyers Siniša Gazivoda, Miloš Vuksanović, Filip Jovović and Borivoje Đukanović, NGO representative Stevo Muk and member of the Ministry of Justice Andrej Milović had an agreed position that first the termination of the mandate of Acting VDT Dražen Burić should be noted, and then a vote should be taken from the list of two candidates, who applied as interested to the TS public call.

"We cannot state that the mandate has been terminated, because it may happen that today we do not elect a new acting VDT, and the prosecutor's organization must not remain without that position. I'm not saying they will, but there is a possibility. In addition, this agenda of ours says that it should be done at the same time", repeated TS deputy Đurđina Ivanović several times.

Prominent lawyers and a representative of the Ministry of Justice assured in a long discussion that such an option cannot happen, and that they will not interrupt "the session until a new acting VDT is elected".

"Today we have the certainty of choosing a new acting VDT, and that was not the case on January 24. "Now we have in front of us the biographies of 54 prosecutors who meet the requirements, we have interested candidates, a clear situation and I don't see any room for any drama," said Vuksanović.

Exactly at noon, the Supreme Court declared the termination of Burić's mandate, but there was a new discussion about how to draw up the final list of candidates, and whether one should first vote only for the two interested candidates - Burić and the lawyer Aleksandar Kovačević, or draw up a list and with candidates that everyone would suggest for a fee.

"We need to have a final list, why is it a problem to have all the names and proposals", said Đurđina Ivanović.

First there was a vote for two interested candidates - Burić only received a raised hand from four colleagues from the prosecutor's organization, while the others were against the possibility of him continuing to lead the prosecutor's organization in an acting mandate.

The second candidate, lawyer Kovačević, had six abstentions - and the prosecutors Đurđuna Ivanović, Sanja Jovićević, Nikola Samardžić and Tatjana Begović voted against the possibility of someone from outside the prosecutor's organization taking up a key position, who were firm in their position from January 24 that the new acting VDT is chosen from the list of prosecutors.

Gazivoda's proposal

In the continuation of the constitutive session, the eminent lawyer Siniša Gazivoda performed a new maneuver - he proposed to the TS members that the prosecutor Maja Jovanović, due to her professional, human and ethical references, be the proposal for the new acting VDT.

After Gazivoda's proposal, the prosecutor of the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica, Tatjana Begović, came forward and asked for an exemption during the vote because she is married to the prosecutor Jovanović's godmother.

The proposal for exemption was accepted, and after several questions, no one else applied to publicly present a proposal for the new head of VDT in the acting mandate.

The representatives of the prosecutor's organization did not have their proposal for the acting VDT, explaining that their proposal was Burić, for whom they voted.

During the vote for Gazivoda's proposal, three prosecutors gave their support for prosecutor Maja Jovanović to be the head of the prosecutor's organization in an acting mandate for the next six months.

HRA: Obliged to notify TS who has the conditions for termination of office

The executive director of the Action for Human Rights, Tea Gorjanc-Prelević, told "Vijesta" that Maja Jovanović "has the obligation to inform the Court of Justice of all prosecutors, who meet the conditions for termination of the prosecutor's office, in accordance with Article 105 of the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office."

"She should initiate the process of forming commissions, whose task is to determine the disciplinary and ethical responsibility of prosecutors. First, he should convene a Conference of State Prosecutors, at which the president of the Commission for Monitoring the Application of the Code of Ethics will be elected from among TS members, who are not state prosecutors, so that complaints can be considered. He should propose to the Prosecutor's Council candidates for members of the Disciplinary Council", stated Gorjanc-Prelević.

She stressed that it is the TS's obligation to choose a disciplinary prosecutor and his deputy in the next 15 days, based on two submitted proposals - from the session of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office and the Minister of Justice, that is, the current coordinator of that Ministry.

"We expect that the policy of investigating organized crime and corruption will be directed towards the principals. However, I believe that it is not realistic to expect any serious changes from the incumbent, although we would be pleasantly surprised if they did happen, in the general interest of the rule of law".

She assessed that the improvisation of the TS with a public invitation was not necessary, nor was the introduction of the exhibition in the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office - that someone outside of the State Prosecutor's Office could be acting as well.

"It is necessary for the Assembly to decide as soon as possible on the existing proposal for the election of the VDT, which was submitted to it on July 30, 2021, so that, if none of the proposed candidates is elected, the TS could immediately announce a new competition for the election of the VDT - and in full term".

In addition, Action for Human Rights expects that the state prosecutor's office will urgently improve the quality of investigations into police abuse, that previous investigations of war crimes will be reviewed, that a new strategy for investigating war crimes will be adopted, and that the prosecutor's office will seriously address the investigation of all those responsible for the murder of Duško Jovanović and concealing the perpetrators, as well as other cases of attacks on journalists, and so on.

He has a free hand in his acting mandate

Acting VDT Maja Jovanović legally has exactly the same powers, as if she was elected in a full mandate for the umbrella position of the prosecution organization.

After the unanimous support of the TS, it is expected to deal with the state of the prosecution, to identify "weak links" and to provide support and encourage prosecutors to start a more determined fight against corruption and organized crime.

She has a free hand to request an inspection of all case files, to order the control of the work of managers and prosecutors, and she is obliged to issue mandatory work instructions and instructions for handling certain cases.