Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković said that the Montenegrin prosecution service is an institution resistant to all pressures.
Marković said this at the Rule of Law Forum, which is being held today in Podgorica.
"This independence is not only external, but also internal in nature; each prosecutor decides independently. Each prosecutor must make a decision by reading the law and the evidence contained in the case file envelopes," Marković pointed out.
He added that independence and accountability go hand in hand, and that justice is not justice if it is not visible, and the same applies to the independence of the prosecution.
"I am quite satisfied with the public perception, World Bank research shows that there is a high level of trust in Montenegro, unlike all countries in the region, we have greater trust in the work of the prosecution than in the work of the judiciary," said Marković.
Marković emphasized that the process of prosecutorial reform cannot be completed in two years, but that the foundations must be laid immediately.
"For the citizens of Montenegro, every segment of the prosecution is important, so that they have a sense of real results, not just the abstract work of the prosecution. This period of the prosecution is based on these principles of independence and accountability," he added.
Pavličić: The judiciary was silenced due to too loud politics
Supreme Court President Valentina Pavličić said that as a long-time judge, when she took office as president, she noticed that disciplinary proceedings against judges were not being conducted in the Montenegrin judiciary.
"Today, we have created such a framework, and court presidents know best how their judges work and whether there is unjustified delay in certain procedures. We at the Judicial Council are waiting for such types of procedures to begin," said Pavličić.
She emphasized that immediately upon taking office, she initiated an ethics proceeding against one judge, which ended with the determination of a violation of the code of ethics, despite the disagreement of some colleagues.
"We adopted a new code of ethics at the end of November, where we provided new interpretations. We did not come across an example in any country of evaluating Supreme Court judges, so we allowed them to be evaluated. In these 11 months, more citizens have addressed the Supreme Court than in the last ten years," Pavličić pointed out.
Pavličić said that she took over the position of President of the Supreme Court after a long period of stagnation and lull in the judiciary, when it was silenced due to too much politics.
"Without independence, there is no professionalism. Professionalism is worth efficiency to us, and we lose all of that if there is no transparency and accountability," said the President of the Supreme Court.
She stated that the situation she found was unpromising: 78.000 unresolved cases and a shortage of 64 judges at all levels.
"We created an analytical concept together with the Judicial Council and increased the number of officers in the specialized department. What was urgent to do - today we are announcing that we have clearly and seriously set out to deliver results," Pavličić stated.
Pavličić explained that Supreme Court judges have currently resolved 28 percent more cases than in 2024, and in the first 11 months of 2025, 56 old cases were resolved, which is 20 percent more than in all of 2024.
"By the end of the year, first-instance decisions will be made in eight more cases," added the President of the Supreme Court.
Pavličić pointed out that she had formed an operational team with Supreme Court judges and one Appellate Court judge with decades of experience in order to create a record of all old cases.
"We will not be able to have the situations we have had so far, where cases were just listed without an explanation of what happened. We are introducing this because we have a responsibility not to cause greater damage than what has already been done," explained Pavličić.
She also emphasized that she had instructed court presidents to list cases with statutes of limitations and to control why this happened, especially in cases of domestic violence, where statutes of limitations had expired due to lack of urgency.
"The president of that court must provide a critical review and comment on what he will do to prevent this from happening," Pavličić concluded.
Sekulović: Montenegrin judiciary had to face reality
State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Sergej Sekulović, emphasized that the Montenegrin judiciary had to face reality.
"The message was sent to us from the top of the judiciary that we had no problem with organized crime. At one point, we began to publicly admit that we had that problem, but it was too late. Now everything that had been swept under the carpet is out in the open. Due to the denial of the problem, the Montenegrin judiciary was unprepared for that type of pressure. All the challenges we had for years now have a solid foundation," said Sekulović.
He added that the judiciary will not be perfect at the end of 2026 and 2027, but that it can offer a reliable and results-focused judiciary, in which independence and accountability are respected and where citizens can see concrete results.
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