They oppose the abolition of the courts in Žabljak and Danilovgrad

The Professional Committee of the Judiciary, the Trade Union of Administration and the Judiciary, announced that they oppose the announced abolition of basic courts in Žabljak and Danilovgrad.

"The rationalization plan states certain financial savings. Does this mean that certain jobs will be abolished, and some officials will be out of a job at a time when as many citizens as possible should be in employment," the announcement reads.

They indicate that the number of cases in the Basic Court in Danilovgrad, especially civil cases, is significantly higher this year compared to several previous ones.

"According to the latest census, the number of residents in Danilovgrad is higher compared to the 2011 census, which indicates a tendency for further growth and therefore a greater need for the services of that court. The rationalization plan determined the mileage between the Basic Court in Danilovgrad and the Basic Court in Podgorica of 17 kilometers, ignoring the fact that the territory of the municipality of Danilovgrad is large, so a citizen who lives in the town of Glava Zeta or Studeno only has to travel a minimum of 25 km, which exposes him to a significant increase in costs characterized as one of the smallest secondary courts, which is an unacceptable categorization, both in terms of the number of employees and in terms of the number of cases they are used exclusively for conducting procedures, but also for obtaining certificates, document certification, which would expose them to higher costs and loss of additional time for obtaining the same, if canceled," said the expert committee.

They also believe that the court in Žabljak is necessary in full capacity for the residents of that municipality and Šavnik.

"Regarding the abolition of the Basic Court in Žabljak, we point out that appreciating the historical, traditional, geographical, demographic, touristic and other characteristics of the Durmitor area undoubtedly indicate that this court with its seat in Žabljak, with its competences, is still necessary in its full capacity for the citizens of the Municipality Žabljak and Šavnik, all the more so, because it justified its role as a judicial institution in which citizens have confidence through its work results in the past .5/45' in Šavnik, a court was established for the administrative division of Šavnik and Piva, whose seat was moved to Žabljak in 1948), and for the area of ​​the municipality of Žabljak, a Municipal Court was established by the Decision of the Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro, which has its own continuity of work with minor interruptions until We believe that access to justice for every citizen should be timely, which is why we appreciate that it is in the interest of the citizens of Žabljak and Šavnik that they can exercise their rights many times more efficiently, more economically, more promptly and with better quality in the seat of the court in Žabljak than in another city center. . The basic court in Žabljak successfully exercises its jurisdiction in the area of ​​two mountain municipalities, where the municipality of Žabljak has an area of ​​445 km㎡ (a total of 28 settlements), and a total of 3.569 inhabitants and is the ecological capital and an important tourist center of Montenegro, while the municipality of Šavnik has an area of ​​555 km㎡ (a total of 27 settlements), a total of 2.077 inhabitants. The settlements in these two municipalities are quite rural, i.e. mountainous type, with difficult traffic communication, especially in autumn and winter, and some settlements are inaccessible and distant from the seat of the court by an average of 20 to 30 km. We point out the fact that in no segment of the Plan, during the consideration of rationalization, was there an attempt to point out the possibility of possible territorial unification of certain municipalities to this court (e.g. the municipality of Plužine), which would complete the Durmitor Ring of three municipalities, as one logical whole, so In that way, the municipality of Plužine would also be attached to the jurisdiction of the High Court in Bijelo Polje, as a second-instance court that was formed for the northern region, while now Plužine is completely illogically under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Podgorica," they add.

They say that they consider the proposal to "partially, and exclusively in order to satisfy some minimum conditions for access to the European Union" to solve the issue of rationalization of the court network, "if it is known that a total of six judges are planned in these two courts".

"If this is brought into context with European standards, then the conclusion is clearly drawn that, if we really want to consistently apply those standards in the full sense of the word, it inevitably imposes the conclusion that the list of courts from the point of view of sustainability would not be reduced to only the two mentioned courts, but significantly more," they conclude.