Much has been done to improve detainees' prison conditions

‘At this moment, the Belgrade County Prison – the largest detention unit in the region – is housing 670 detainees, whereas in 2010, it housed 1,370’, Head of the Penal Sanctions Enforcement Directorate Mr Dejan Carević stated at today’s conference Detention – regional criminal legislation, implementation experience and improvement measures organised by the OSCE Mission to Serbia. ‘In addition to the incomparably reduced number of detainees, a lot has been done to improve the prison conditions. All the rooms occupied by the detainees have been completely renovated’, Mr Carević said. He indicated that the reduction in the number of the detainees had been achieved through, among other things, other measures of ensuring the presence of the accused in criminal proceedings which were alternative to the detention measure – primarily prohibition to leave the residence, i.e. house arrest.

Mr Carević stressed that sharing experiences and examples of good detention practice, and other measures would certainly contribute to the improvement of criminal proceedings. To that effect – he added – the Ministry of Justice and the Penal Sanctions Enforcement Directorate have been cooperating closely with the OSCE Mission to Serbia. He pointed out that the Penal Sanctions Enforcement Directorate, in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia, had also made a handbook for the detainees to get familiarised more easily with their rights and obligations, and that the Directorate had additionally distributed complaints forms to them – all for the purpose of achieving greater information awareness about the protection of rights when a detention measure is being executed.

‘I would like to reiterate that in 2010, upon the execution of a detention order, 3,300 persons were held in detention in prisons across the Republic of Serbia. Many things have changed since then – the new Criminal Procedure Code, the Criminal Sanctions Enforcement Act, the special Enforcement of Non-Custodial Sanctions and Measures Act, and the Rulebook on the Enforcement of Detention Measures have been adopted’, Mr Carević highlighted. He explained that those were important starting points to achieving normative and practical compliance of measures of ensuring the presence of the accused in criminal proceedings with the relevant international standards, emphasising that the number of detainees had reduced by half. He concluded by saying that good cooperation with the courts had been established owing to the urgency for ordering the measure in the proceedings.

Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Andrea Orizio said that the OSCE was strongly advocating and supporting initiatives directed at improving the legislation and its enforcement as well as initiatives aimed at improving the court practice in judicial matters and fundamental human rights which, as he explained, were at the core of the obligation which the OSCE had taken on. Orizio stressed that the denial of a fundamental human right – the right to freedom – had to be taken seriously, especially since the accused persons were presumed innocent throughout the criminal proceedings, and that the task was to find the balance between the accused’s right to freedom and the legitimate interest in conducting the proceedings efficiently.

Acting President of the Supreme Court of Cassation Mr Dragomir Milojević and Vice-President of the Bar Association of Serbia Ms Jasmina Milutinović also spoke at the conference.