Former Judge Vesna Vučković Has Been Granted the Right to Compensation
The former Acting President of the Supreme Court, Vesna Vučković, was granted the right to receive one-year compensation upon termination of office. This stems from the decision of the Administrative Court, which changed the position of the Judicial Council which previously rejected her request for compensation.
On 12 March, Vučković sued the Judicial Council again before the Administrative Court (Bulletin no. 6) for not recognising her right, which, according to the last verdict, was indisputably hers. The procedure will now go to the Supreme Court, and if they do not enforce the judgment themselves, Vučković will collects the funds through an enforcement agent.
As a judge of the Supreme Court, Vesna Vučković was elected at the session of the Judicial Council in 2021 to be the acting head of the highest court instance. At the beginning of December 2024, she resigned from the position of judge after she was not elected head of the Supreme Court for a full term.
Judicial Employees Threaten to Stop Working Because of Low Salaries
More than 400 civil servants and state employees employed in the Montenegrin judiciary are thinking about suspending their work unless their financial situation is improved, i.e. unless they receive a salary increase.
As announced by the Trade Union of Administration and Justice, this will be the final step aimed at attracting the attention of the authorities. They claim that they are receiving the lowest wages in the public sector, warning that state employees and civil servants constitute the most numerous group in the judiciary and that the courts and prosecutor’s offices would not be able to function without them.
For this reason, they submitted requests for urgent meetings to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Justice and Finance, with the aim of finding a quick and sustainable solution. They also wrote to the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils.
Let us recall that in April, the Government of Montenegro proposed amendments to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges and the Law on the State Prosecutor’s Office according to which the salaries of judges and state prosecutors should be increased by 30 percent. Those acts will not affect the salaries of civil servants and state employees in the judiciary.
The Rules for Performance Evaluation of Prosecutors Have Been Adopted
At its session held on 8 May, the Prosecutorial Council adopted the Rules for the Performance Evaluation of State Prosecutors and Heads of Prosecutor’s Offices, thus fulfilling the legal obligation to adopt a by-law prescribing the performance evaluation procedure and relevant indicators in accordance with the amendments to the Law on the State Prosecutor’s Office from June 2024.
However, this act did not adopt the recommendations of the HRA – that the law should stipulate that the quality of the work of prosecutors be evaluated based on adopted or rejected proposals for the determination and extension of detention, adopted complaints on decisions on the rejection of criminal charges, legally binding judgments, the number of convictions and accepted appeals; that the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro and the European Court of Human Rights be treated as an indicator of professional knowledge within the framework of the quality of work and not of the acting skills; and that the law prescribe mandatory performance evaluation of state prosecutors in the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office.
Complaints about the work of prosecutors and heads regarding the legality of work were discussed at the session as well. The Prosecutorial Council was of the opinion that 20 complaints were unfounded, that one was founded, and that three cases did not involve complaints concerning the legality of work.
At the Council session, Tanja Božović was elected state prosecutor in the High State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica.
The Basic Court in Ulcinj and the Commercial Court Have Received Reinforcements
At the session of the Judicial Council held on 6 May, Maida Šurla-Bašić was elected as a judge of the Basic Court in Ulcinj, while Anja Bojović was elected as a judge of the Commercial Court.
The Council also took decisions to announce competitions for the election of presidents of the misdemeanour courts in Podgorica and Bijelo Polje, as well as for the election of judges in the Administrative Court, the Commercial Court, and the High Court in Bijelo Polje.
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