Although it is planned that the Basic Court in Bar will have ten judges, there are currently only four judges in that judicial body, as confirmed to "Vijesti" from the Bar court.
"The court currently has three judges and a court president, given that from 2022, judges of the Higher Court in Podgorica have been elected." Goran Scepanovic, Ljiljana Bulatovic, Snezana Dragojević i Boris Bulatović, while the judge Valentina Vuković assigned by internal advertisement to the Basic Court in Podgorica. Judge Zoran Lekic "in November 2022, he became entitled to an old-age pension, while one judge has been on sick leave since August 2024 and it is uncertain whether he will even start working."
This was told to "Vijesti" by the president of the Basic Court in Bar. Tamara Spasojevic.
Although there are only three judges, the number of cases is quite large, so she believes that such a small number of judges will have certain consequences for their work.
"The Basic Court in Bar currently has 3.193 cases in progress and so far the percentage of cases resolved is 87,11 percent compared to the inflow. I would like to point out that all judges are making maximum efforts to complete a greater number of cases, which can be seen from the annual work report, but the fact is that such a small number of judges compared to the inflow of cases will ultimately affect the promptness of their work," she said.
She informed the Judicial Council of Montenegro about the situation in the Basic Court in Bar, which is reflected in the drastic lack of staff, with a request to provide assistance to the Basic Court in Bar, which would include sending a certain number of judges to the Basic Court in Bar or possibly delegating cases to other courts.
"I have not had any communication with the relevant ministry, given that the Judicial Council is responsible for selecting candidates for judges and assigning them," she concluded.
On the official website of the Bar Basic Court, citizens were informed in mid-February that the cases of certain judges would be "postponed until further notice" and that the parties and other persons in the proceedings would be notified in a timely manner by the new acting judge about the new dates of the main hearing.
Such notifications relate to judges Boris Bulatović and Valentina Vuković.
Due to this situation in the Bar court, lawyers and citizens have contacted "Vijesti" this month complaining that court proceedings are proceeding very slowly, often to their detriment.
They appealed to the competent authorities to resolve the personnel crisis in the Basic Court in Bar as soon as possible.
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