Montenegrin judges are required to report to the President of the Supreme Court, Valentina Pavličić, by the end of the year on the number of backlog and statute-barred cases. She instructed them to review these cases — particularly those involving domestic violence — and to analyze the reasons why some became time-barred. A newly formed team will also be working on this task, she announced during the 2025 Rule of Law Forum held in Podgorica.
“The president of the court must provide a critical overview and specify what steps will be taken to prevent recurrence,” Pavličić stated. She emphasized that she had established an operational team consisting of Supreme Court judges and one judge from the Court of Appeal to identify and review all backlog cases.
“We can no longer allow the situations we had in the past, when cases were merely listed without any explanation of what had happened. We are doing this because we have a responsibility not to cause more harm than has already been done,” she explained.
Human Rights Action (HRA) welcomed the steps announced by Pavličić, recalling that since 2017 it has advocated for a systematic review of the reasons behind statute-barred cases, and for determining whether the responsible judge should be held accountable. HRA also insists that changes to the methodology for court performance reports should require all courts to report the number of cases in which the statute of limitations expired during the proceedings.
The head of Montenegro’s judiciary also noted that at the time of her appointment, there were 78,000 unresolved casesbefore the courts, but that the judiciary is now delivering tangible results.
“In the first 11 months of 2025, 56 backlog cases were resolved — 20% more than in all of 2024 — and by the end of December we expect another eight first-instance rulings. We are not completely satisfied, but eleven months was not enough time to do more,” she said.
The overall case resolution rate has also improved.
“Instead of last year’s 86% case resolution rate, we now have 99% efficiency,” Pavličić stated.
She emphasized that without independence, there can be no professionalism or efficiency in the judiciary, and that these goals are being pursued through reform.
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