VENICE COMMISSION GIVES POSITIVE FEEDBACK ON SERBIAN DRAFT LAWS

At its 94th plenary meeting, the Venice Commission gave a positive opinion on the three draft amendments to the laws on judges, court organisation and public prosecutor’s offices respectively, sent by the Serbian Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, says Minister Nikola Selaković.

Minister Selaković reported that the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration had sent draft amendments to three laws governing justice and judicial organisation, i.e. the law on judges, law on organisation of courts and the law on public prosecutor's offices, to the Venice Commission for their opinion earlier this year.

“I am very pleased with how we were treated by the Venice Commission, the respect we came across and the first success of our ministry,” said Selaković in Venice.

Selaković added that apart from some minor technical corrections, which were perfectly acceptable and would be included in the law proposals to be sent to the National Assembly by the Serbian Government, the Venice Commission gave an overall positive feedback on the proposed amendments.

“Our aim is to have accessible, efficient and independent justice in all parts of the country. We will finally achieve this by correcting the mistakes that were also made when the current network of courts was being created,” said Selaković.

He emphasised that the road to that objective was not an easy one and that it would take time. “It is very important to start this kind of work properly, to plan every single future step precisely. We need to know the real situation in courts and public prosecutor’s offices, the problems that judges and prosecutors deal with. Most importantly, we need to know what problems Serbia’s citizens deal with to get justice because they are the ones who feel best the effects of justice in practice,” concluded Minister Selaković