‘The new Government has set fight against organised crime as one of its most important tasks. One of the reasons for this is the fact that certain mafia groups have recently tried to impose themselves as a force more powerful than the state. They will be will stopped in their attempts through decisive action against mafia and organised crime, just as President Aleksandar Vučić announced. The Government and the Ministry of Justice will offer their full support. It will be necessary to coordinate actions of all competent state authorities. I firmly believe that all state institutions have the necessary knowledge, strength and capacity, and that the state will prevail.
In an interview for Novosti, Minister of Justice Maja Popović explained:
— The system established based on the Organisation and Competencies of Government Authorities in Suppressing Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption Act has proven that fight against organised crime can indeed be successful. Between 1 March 2018 and 30 June 2020, special anti-corruption units within the High Courts and the High Prosecutor’s Offices in Belgrade, Novi sad, Kraljevo and Niš, respectively, received cases of criminal charges raised against 24,013 persons, among whom were senior officials of local self-governments, directors of public companies, and senior officials at the republic (central) level. The courts of law have pronounced judgements of conviction against 1,295 of those persons. This sends a clear message that nobody is protected, no matter to which political party they belong or the public office they hold. The most illustrative example would be the recent arrest of the former heads of the municipalities of Prijepolje and Arilje, as well as Assistant Minister of Agriculture.
Do judicial proceedings in Serbia take too long?
— Judicial proceedings do take too long, and the Ministry of Justice will work on improving the efficiency of the courts. One of the priorities will be to find the most adequate solution which will bring about the fastest possible conclusions of civil dispute cases. The civil dispute departments of Belgrade courts are particularly overburdened. The Ministry has already formed a working group tasked exclusively to unburden the civil dispute departments in Belgrade, in particular. We expect the first results soon. This ought to prevent the drain of the public resources. The state is losing enormous amounts from the state budget as a result of damages awarded to citizens for the violation of their right to legal proceedings within a reasonable time. In the past period, the Ministry was working on resolving this issue. The Ministry is also looking into the possibility of introducing urgent interventions/actions into the Civil Procedure Act, the idea being that proceedings involving small-value disputes may be simplified further by granting greater discretion to the body conducting the proceedings, i.e. the judge presiding the case. This may accelerate the closure of these types of cases. Draft amendments to this effect have already been prepared.
President of the High Court of Cassation said that draft amendments to the Enforcement and Security Act were underway, and that he would recommend a write-off of all claims of under 10 euros in value. The Ministry of Justice is always open to all constructive solutions and we certainly welcome every suggestion and proposal coming from the High Court of Cassation as the court of the highest instance.
Many old claims handed over to enforcement officers/bailiffs have grown enormously due to interest rates. Debtors are announcing lawsuits. Is there a compromise? — Absolutely. All the attention is now directed towards utility companies which in over the past 10 years and more often took a passive position in cases in which they were executive creditors. Status quo Is not sustainable because there are hundreds of thousands of old unresolved enforcement cases which are not being acted on. There was also the issue of judges’ lack of engagement and action in such cases. We are trying to find a common language with utility companies, and I am positive we will reach an agreement.
What is the status on adopting the new Constitution? — In 2018, The Ministry of Justice drafted the amendments to the Constitution pertaining to the judicature, for the purpose of further strengthening the rule of law and harmonising the national legislation with the European standards. These amendments were evaluated positively by the Venice Commission, and the drafting was conducted as part of the transparent process of public hearings. At the end of November 2018, the Government submitted to the National Assembly a proposal to amend the highest legal act — the Constitution. In the meantime, new members of the National Assembly have been elected and a new Government formed. It is now necessary for the new Government to resubmit the same proposal to the National Assembly. The following steps of the procedure will be in the hands of the members of the National Assembly. Prime Minister Ana Brnabić has stated in her exposé that the Government will continue to support the initiative to amend the Constitution pertaining to the judicature.
Will the Constitution be amended if a deal on Kosovo and Metohija is reached, considering that the preamble [of the Constitution] is very clear? — The draft amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia for the most part concern changes to the judiciary, i.e. the way in which judges and prosecutors are elected. As such, there is no correlation with the subject of Kosovo and Metohija.
Can Serbia assist the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague by providing evidence against Thaci? — In light of the formal cooperation between Serbia and this court as well as the fact that it is a body of the so-called ‘Republic of Kosovo’, requests for legal assistance are received through the Office of the EU Delegation to Serbia. Thus far, the Ministry has received 12 requests from the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, and it has responded to 9 of those 12 requests.
Do you believe that justice will finally be served and that the terrorists of the so-called KLA will receive due punishment? — We waited for an unacceptably long time for the first criminal charges to be brought before The Hague court for crimes committed against Serbs and other non-ethnic Albanians on Kosovo and Metohija. Sister raised out among the citizens of Serbia the justice for Serbian victims was attainable. I am pleased that finally cases are being tried, but the question remains whether those responsible for numerous crimes, for thousands of victims of murder, brutal torture, [enforced] disappearance, persecution, would receive justice. The just and the righteous thing would be that all who committed crimes are duly prosecuted and adequately punished.
Will you activate again the guarantee of allowing our convicted persons, including Mladić, to serve their sentence(s) is in Serbia? — Serbia initiated this matter back in 2009. In the past several years, the matter has been raised at every session of the United Nations Security Council where progress on Serbia's cooperation with The Hague tribunal was presented and discussed. Unfortunately, we have not received any response to date. We must not let this matter remain unresolved before the mandate of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals expires. Serbia is prepared to accept the responsibility and be accountable for the enforcement of prison sentences imposed on all its citizens by the Mechanism as well as to accept international monitoring of the enforcement. Our competent institutions will give clear guarantees that the convicted persons will not be released early on probation without the appropriate decisions of the Mechanism.
May we to expect to see large infrastructure projects under your purview? — Improving judicial infrastructure remains one of the Ministry’s priorities. Between 2012 to 2019, over 200,000 square metres were refurbished, restructured, renovated, and even built a new – as in the example of the Palace of Justice in Kragujevac, the construction of which it is currently underway. In all of these projects, nearly 12 billion dinars have been invested. The construction of, what is to be, an impressive Palace of Justice in Kragujevac is funded entirely from the state budget. Creating adequate working conditions may increase the efficiency of the courts by up to 60%. In effect, there will more courtrooms which in turn will allow for more frequently scheduled court appointments/hearings. I believe that soon the first phase of the reconstruction project of the part of the Filip Kljajić military complex in Niš, which will be designated for the special anti-corruption units in that city, will be completed.