It is necessary to finally reach the first verdicts in the Special Department of the High Court because trials have been postponed for a long time, and therefore special emphasis has been placed on monitoring cases from entering the court to their final exit from the court within a reasonable time, announced the President of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, Valentina Pavličić.
The Supreme Court announced that she made this statement in a speech at the 16th session of the Review Group on the Implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), held in Vienna.
"As legal professionals, we are witnesses to the challenges that modern society faces, both in the form of traditional forms of organized crime and various forms of corruption, with the increasing presence of new sophisticated forms of organized financial crime. Montenegro, like many countries, has faced its own challenges in this regard," Pavličić pointed out.
She added that the Montenegrin judiciary is facing a major judicial challenge of making first-instance and then final decisions in high-level corruption cases, to which an adequate legal response must be provided as soon as possible.
"We are fully aware that the work of the national judicial system, and thus the Supreme Court of Montenegro, which I head, requires the adoption of judicial decisions that require the application and interpretation of the law as a "living instrument," because it is a sine qua non, required by contemporary trends in the development of society and the system, especially with regard to corruption," said Pavličić.
She emphasized that the Montenegrin judiciary plays a key role in this process and that it continuously works to improve legal mechanisms and ensure that they are effective in preventing and combating corruption.
Pavličić said that since joining the Convention, Montenegro has made great strides in building and strengthening its legislative and institutional framework for the fight against corruption.
"The Government of Montenegro has adopted a Decision on the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Council, of which I am a member, and one of whose tasks is the development of the Anti-Corruption Strategy, with an Action Plan for its implementation, which is also one of the obligations within the framework of the interim benchmarks for the negotiation Chapter 23 - Judiciary and Fundamental Rights," she said.
The Supreme Court's statement states that, in the previous period, that institution also prepared an Analysis of Penal Policy for the Most Serious Criminal Offenses, in which, among other things, it analyzed the penal policy for criminal offenses of organized crime and high-level corruption.
"This Analysis was the basis for the development of Guidelines for the conduct of courts when deciding on submitted plea agreements," the Supreme Court said.
"The Supreme Court of Montenegro has also developed Guidelines for Improving the Management of Serious and Organized Crime and Corruption Cases, and the Supreme Court's plans for increasing public trust in the work of the courts, especially the Special Department, are outlined in the Work Plan of the Supreme Court for 2025. The plan foresees special monitoring of the work of the Special Department of the High Court in Podgorica, so the contribution and role of the President of the Supreme Court and the judges of the Criminal Department of the Supreme Court will be of exceptional importance, both in terms of professional and organizational support," said Pavličić.
Speaking about the problem of so-called "red envelopes", or cases older than three years, Pavličić said that a new measure had been introduced - a Unified National Program for Resolving Old Cases and announced the formation of a Working Team that would monitor the dynamics of work on these cases and prevent their future occurrence.
"During his stay in Vienna, Pavličić will meet with the Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) John Brandolini. The UNCAC session in Vienna will also be attended by the judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica, Irena Šofranac Nedović," the Supreme Court said in a statement.
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