N10.T5 – THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL DEMANDS URGENT IMPLEMENTATION OF VETTING
HRA NEWSLETTER 10 – TOPIC 5
The Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the European Commission, should urgently prepare a model for the introduction of vetting, recommended the State National Security Council. Special attention should be given to verifying the integrity, professionalism, and lifestyle of holders of judicial positions, it was announced after the ninth session of the Council chaired by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.
In addition to the Prime Minister, Council members include the Ministers of Internal Affairs Danilo Šaranović, Defense Dragan Krapović, Justice Bojan Božović, Foreign Affairs Ervin Ibrahimović, and Finance Novica Vuković; Deputy Prime Ministers Aleksa Bečić and Momo Koprivica; as well as the Director of the National Security Agency Ivica Janović.
Also present at the latest session were the Supreme State Prosecutor Milorad Marković, Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović, and the Acting Police Director Lazar Šćepanović, Chief of the Special Prosecutor’s Office Predrag Šuković, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Security and Defense Miodrag Laković. A serious problem was noted regarding the efficiency of the judiciary system, especially in the segment of timely issuance of verdicts.
“In order to assess the efficiency of the judiciary system in handling cases involving serious criminal offenses, the Council will request from the Judicial Council comprehensive data on the total number of court decisions that were not drafted within the legally prescribed deadlines, as well as data on the number of revoked detentions that resulted from failure to issue court verdicts within three years from the date of indictment,” the statement said after the session.
Therefore, the National Security Council proposed to the Ministry of Justice to initiate amendments and additions to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and to forward them to the European Commission, with a special emphasis on extending the maximum duration of detention and increasing the current limit of three years for the most serious criminal offenses.
Recall that the draft law on amendments and additions to the CPC, which among other things, envisaged extending detention from three to five years if a first-instance verdict was not reached, was withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure earlier this year.
The Human Rights Action, among others, contested the proposal put forward by the deputies of the Europe Now Movement (the party of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić), emphasizing that extending detention in cases where a first-instance verdict is not rendered is not the solution.
“That indicates the state’s inability to organize its judiciary in a way that protects human rights, even though that is its fundamental duty,” said HRA director Tea Gorjanc-Prelević.
At the session of the National Security Council, the ministry led by Bojan Božović was also asked to intensify activities by October on adopting the Law on the Confiscation of Property Gains Acquired by Criminal Activity and other laws crucial for the fight against organized crime and corruption.
“The Council proposes that the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with the European Commission, initiate preparatory activities for the formation of a special Financial Agency, which would have the task of conducting substantive and independent control of financial statements and reports. The National Security Council fully supports the acting director of the Police Directorate (Lazar Šćepanović) and the management in implementing activities aimed at combating organized crime and corruption,” reads the statement from the National Security Council.
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