New prosecutorial laws mean more autonomy but also responsibility in making decisions in the procedures for prosecutors at every level and continuing process of decentralizing the power of public prosecutorial office.
This is the crucial message of the annual conference „What to expect from new prosecutorial laws“ organized by the Association of Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors of Serbia, on 4th November in Belgrade, where more than hundreds of colleagues from the prosecutorial office, academic society, and civil society were present.
The conference’s main topic was working drafts of the Law on the Public Prosecutorial Office and Law on High Prosecutorial Council, on which representatives of the Association were working.
„New prosecutorial laws bring substantial, not only cosmetic changes in the functioning of the public prosecutorial organization, and one of the most important ones is the reduction of authorization of current Republic Public Prosecutor which will come to the diminishing of the existing pyramidal system of hierarchy in the prosecutorial office.
These systematic solutions bring significantly wider personal autonomy to all prosecutors, but whether we will as acting prosecutors use this practice and autonomy depends on our personal and professional integrity, “ said Mrs. Lidija Komlen Nikolic, President of the Presidency of Association of Public Prosecutors in the opening session of the Conference.
Mrs. Lidija Komlen Nikolic also commented that amendments by both laws come to the strong resistance of the conservative part of the public prosecutorial organization, which is not ready to give up the influence and power enabled by the existing system.
Mrs. Maja Popovic, Minister of Justice in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, claimed that new prosecutorial laws are a „tectonic change in judiciary. “She is delighted that Venice Commission assessed that these draftings are very transparent and inclusive.
Her appraisal of tectonic changes in the judiciary was in line with the opinions of Ambassador Mr. Jan Braathu, Head of OSCE Mission to Serbia, and Mr. Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe in Belgrade.
„Prosecutors must be independent in their work, ready to stand for the rule of law and enable conditions for a fair trial to all citizens. Perception of prosecution by the citizens is not satisfied, and we have to work on that all together to improve it, Ambassador Braathu said.
Mr. Tobias Flessenkemper announced that representatives of the Venice Commission would be in Serbia from 23rd to the 25th of November. They will continue conversations on these laws, which should be adopted until February next year.
„Increase of prosecutorial autonomy and more outstanding authorization of High Prosecutorial Council is a significant step not only as an adequate response against crime but also more efficient action against organized crime and corruption, which is prevailed interest of Serbian citizens“ Mrs. Plamena Halacheva, Deputy Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Serbia said.
After introductory speeches, two thematic panels were held where both drafts were discussed, and participants of the discussion were, besides Association members, colleagues, lawyers from civil society, and representatives of the academic community.
Proposed novelties in Law in the public prosecutor’s office were discussed by Mr. Goran Ilic, Ph.D. (Association), Professor Miodrag Jovanovic, Ph.D. (Law Faculty, Belgrade University), and Mr. Nemanja Nenadic (Transparency of Serbia).
In the panel dedicated to the novelties of the draft of Law on High Prosecutorial Council, the speakers were Mrs. Svetlana Nenadic, Ph.D. (Association), Mrs.Katarina Golubovic, Ph.D. (YUCOM), Docent Miroslav Djordjevic Ph.D. (Institute for Comparative Law) and Ms. Mariarosaria Guglielmi (MEDEL).
Closing discussions were run by Mr. Radovan Lazic (Association).
The conference attracted the great attention of the media and the general public.