The fact that the Supreme Court again did not determine the proposal for the election of its president shows the unpreparedness of the highest judicial institution of Montenegro for European integration, according to the announcement of the Action for Human Rights (HRA).
"The election of the President of the Supreme Court is a temporary benchmark, the fulfillment of which is essential for obtaining a positive report on Montenegro's progress in European integration (IBAR). That is why even the European Commission and the United States of America recently appealed to the Supreme Court to respond to that task and find a way to determine the proposal for the election of its president," the announcement reads.
The HRA said that the eighth advertisement for that election since the end of 2020 "when the former long-time president Vesna Medenica resigned" also failed today.
"As of September 2021, the acting president of the Supreme Court was Mrs. Vesna Vučković, who did not do enough to ensure the conditions for determining the candidate proposal for the president of the Supreme Court," they added.
According to them, Vučković failed to specify the election rules in a timely manner on how the 2/3 majority is determined and whether a candidate from the Supreme Court can vote, and ensure that the Supreme Court does not enter into new votes before that.
"Vučković did not provide a timely amendment to the Rules of Procedure of the General Session of the Supreme Court, even though the Judicial Council expressly recommended it to her on January 19, 2023, and even though she herself confirmed the need to do so at the General Session of the Supreme Court on March 15, 2024 , as evidenced by the attached documents," HRA said.
They added that Vučković, as the head of the collective body, which, as they said, must choose its president, "was expected to motivate the collective to carry out that task, instead of witnessing another failure and the fact that as many as six judges of that court it didn't even participate in the vote again."
"At today's General Session, 16 judges out of 17 voted, because Judge Vuković did not use her right to vote. Six voted for the candidate Ana Vuković, while five judges voted for the candidate Miodrag Pešić, while there were five invalid ballots. The Supreme Court today had the opportunity to vote on reforms in the judiciary, and he voted for an indefinite acting presidency of Mrs. Vučković, which unfortunately jeopardized the European integration process of Montenegro," they concluded.
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