Judges in complex cases of organized crime and corruption need support through administrative and analytical teams, as well as continuous education regarding financial investigations and international legal assistance, said Supreme Court President Valentina Pavličić.
That court organized a working meeting in cooperation with the Council of Europe Program Office in Podgorica.
"Strengthening the integrity and independence of the judiciary through transparent oversight mechanisms, protection from political influence, systematic and mandatory training of judges on the practice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), more intensive regional cooperation and exchange of experiences through joint training and networks of judges, are some of the conclusions of the working meeting," the Supreme Court announced.
The meeting in Budva, whose topic was the quality and quantity of trials in organized crime and corruption cases, was attended by court presidents, judges who deal with organized crime and corruption cases, and advisors from the Supreme and Appellate Courts of Montenegro, higher courts in Podgorica, Bijelo Polje and Belgrade, the Supreme Court of Croatia, as well as representatives of the Council of Europe.
Speaking about the effectiveness of requests for protection of legality and procedural solutions and their application in practice in terms of harmonizing case law, the President of the Supreme Court, Valentina Pavličić, said that there is a strong need for a balance between efficiency and quality in conducting proceedings.
"In complex cases of organized crime and corruption, quality is often compromised due to pressure and the need to resolve cases quickly, and judges are faced with a large number of cases, which directly affects the duration and quality of court decisions. Therefore, support for judges is needed through administrative and analytical teams, as well as continuous education regarding financial investigations and international legal assistance, as evidenced by this working meeting, as one of the measures to pave the way for the delivery of verdicts in organized crime and corruption cases within a reasonable time," she said.
Analyzing the situation in the region, judges of the Supreme Court of Croatia Damir Kos, former judge of the Supreme Court of Serbia Rada Dragićević and the president of the Special Department for Organized Crime in Serbia Svetlana Aleksić noted that there are different legal solutions and practices in the treatment and interpretation of laws among the countries of the region, but that they are aimed at harmonizing with the practice of the ECHR, and that legal and political pressures further complicate the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
Therefore, they said, harmonization of case law and legislation in accordance with European standards is necessary, especially when it comes to specific legal challenges, such as the use of encrypted communications content in criminal proceedings.
Speaking about the so-called "ping-pong" effect in deciding on procedural solutions, i.e. the continuous return of cases to lower courts, Judge of the Supreme Court of Montenegro Milenka Seka Žižić pointed out that this, among other things, leads to delays in proceedings, creates legal uncertainty and undermines trust in the efficiency of the judicial system.
"Through clear, precise and thorough argumentation when making decisions, we have the opportunity to set guidelines that will contribute to the stability and consistency of the legal system. This will increase efficiency, but also ensure that the decisions we make do not become the subject of endless review and legal disputes," she said.
At the two-day working meeting, as announced, the topic was also the evaluation of the quality of the reasoning of decisions and the efficiency of decision-making through the new legal framework for evaluating judges and court presidents.
The President of the Criminal Department of the Supreme Court, Seka Piletić, said that Montenegro recognized the need to improve the legal framework for evaluation, so last year amendments to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges were adopted, which also included the evaluation procedure for judges and court presidents, and emphasized that for the first time they also prescribed the evaluation of judges of the Supreme Court of Montenegro.
"With the new legal framework, the quality of reasoning for decisions and the efficiency of decision-making are recognized as one of the most important criteria in the process of evaluating judges, which was the goal of amending the Law, so they are given special importance within the criteria of work effectiveness," she said.
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