Filtration of the judiciary and the prosecution is a top priority of the Ministry of Justice and the government as a whole. We expect it to be a major step in finally restoring public trust, Justice Minister Bojan Marichikj tells MIA.
On the extradition of former PM Nikola Gruevski, Marichikj in an interview with MIA says the country has been doing everything in its power to have Gruevski extradited.
Regarding digitization, the Minister says that 10 courtrooms across the country will be equipped for digitization by the end of March. “The question is not whether, it’s when and the pandemic has served as a catalyst,” Marichikj stresses.
Read the Minister Marichikj’s full interview below:
Minister Marichikj, the government recently marked its first 100 days in office, also one of the most challenging years – the year of the COVID-19 pandemic – passed. Reforms in the judicial system are high on the list of priorities of the government policies. In your opinion, how much has it been achieved so far?
Personally, I’m satisfied with what the Justice Ministry had managed to achieve in the first 100 days in office, especially with laying the foundation for what is yet to come in the year ahead. We’ve been and we are working in complex conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reducing court fees eight fold, the census law, changes to the law on violations, which stipulates fines as high as 20 times for polluters of the environment, filtration of the judiciary. Also, a solution was found for court police, the inauguration of a new juvenile detention center in Volkovija, and a new website was designed for free legal aid. At the moment, the Ministry of Justice is preparing changes to twelve laws, for which the public will be informed on time. I’d single out the Criminal Code, the Law on Criminal Procedure, the Law on Litigation, the Law on Mediation, and the Electoral Code.
A clear-out of the judiciary is the focal point of the plan dubbed “Action 21”. A methodology for filtration of the judiciary and the prosecution has been adopted. PM Zoran Zaev has also said that judges will be graded and their assets will be inspected, adding that prosecutors too would have to report on their cases. How will it be implemented, what specifically the methodology encompasses? How will it be translated into practice and will it produce the much-needed results?
Filtration of the judiciary and the prosecution is a top priority of the Ministry of Justice and the government as a whole. It is a process that should be implemented by the judges and the prosecutors, namely the Judicial Council and the Council of Public Prosecutors. We expect it to be a huge step toward restoring public trust, finally. This year the judges, the courts, the court presidents will have their work inspected. The prosecutors too. Their approach and treatment of cases will be inspected, particularly cases of high-level corruption and organized crime.
Could the Law on the Academy for Judges and Prosecutors, which stipulates that associates should attend training for judges according to an adapted program, cutting down the training from two years to one, contribute to reforming the judiciary more quickly? When the concept on the law on adjusting the program could be unveiled?
Amendments to the law are aimed at addressing the recommendations of independent European Commission experts, given during the evaluation mission conducted in 2018, for the purpose of improving the system of judicial training in the country and the functioning of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors. At the moment, the Justice Ministry is engaged in talks with our European Commission partners to shorten the practical segment of the Academy’s training for the candidates that already have a professional experience after spending years as associates in courts. If we reach an agreement, it will be incorporated into the new Law on the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors. The Academy remains the only entry point for new professionals in the judicial system.
Presenting the “Action 21”, the Prime Minister underscored that the country is in the final of implementing deep and substantial reforms in the judiciary only after a difficult battle with those hindering justice. Have we reached the final and who, in fact, are hindering justice in the country.
We, the government, simply have no other choice but to work hard to truly reform the judiciary. We’ve promised the citizens and we owe it to them. The Judicial Council and the Council of Public Prosecutors have presented the methodology and the work of judges and prosecutors will undergo checkups starting January. These two bodies have the main say in the so called filtration of the judiciary. Through a series of established methodologies, the objective is to analyze whether and how investigations have been conducted, whether it has been done in accordance with the laws, how court proceedings have been conducted, why some of them have been done slowly, why some cases have entered the statute of limitations and so on.
We’re aware how crucial the process is to restore trust in the judiciary. The government is obligated to closely follow the judicial reforms.
In parallel with this process, EU monitoring of high-profile court cases, around 50 a year, is expected to start early this year, which will include foreign and local experts hired by the EU and OSCE. What the process would entail? How the court cases undergoing monitoring will be picked?
The monitoring process will be conducted after we’ve requested it. The criteria will be defined by the monitors themselves, i.e. the supporters of this process. First-instance cases will be monitored. There are three main sub-criteria involving corruption-related cases that would make it easier to select relevant cases, including the status of the defendants, their power or post, the severity of the crime, economic damage or consequences, etc. Also, organized crime cases will be monitored with an emphasis on cases involving embezzlement, money laundering or other types of financial crime.
How would you assess the process of implementation of the Public Prosecution Law so far?
I’ve been constantly reminding that the law’s implementation is under way, but legal proceedings brought by the former SPO (Special Public Prosecution) have to be closed. The citizens have been waiting verdicts for years. A key recommendation of the European Commission report is implementation of the new law, which regulates the transfer of some of the powers of the former SPO to the public prosecution for organized crime and corruption and the status of wiretapped recordings. Seeking of full accountability for the crimes arising for the intercepted communication resumes.
The pandemic has changed completely the way we live our lives and it has also affected the functioning of courts. Last year, trials were postponed because defendants, prosecutors, attorneys had fallen ill. There has also been a debate regarding the introduction of online trials as a means to ensure that trials resume amid unprecedented conditions. What is the capacity of the Macedonian system to have online trials?
The Ministry since the beginning of the pandemic has raised the issue of online trials and digitization of the judiciary. The digitization is not an issue of whether, but when, and the pandemic has served as a sort of catalyst to launching the process. In 2021, more efforts will be done to incorporate the necessary provisions in the laws all the while providing the necessary equipment. By the end of March, 10 courtrooms in five basic courts in the country will be equipped.
We have to seize the benefits of modern technology if we want to follow modern trends. You already know that a Kavadarci court had held an online trial, which should further motivate us that it is possible too in North Macedonia.
How many cases have been resolved through mediation? Have the courts been less overwhelmed?
Throughout 2020, up to November 12, licensed mediators had reported 317 attempts to resolve disputes through mediation, including 113 work-related disputes, 156 trade-related disputes, 20 insurance disputes, six property disputes, etc. Of those, 124 had been settled after the signing of written agreement, 190 had been settled without an agreement and thee are still active. This shows that the concept of mediation is functioning.
The Ministry of Justice is drafting a new mediation law and I expect the bill to be forwarded to Parliament. I expect it to further increase the percentage of disputes settled through mediation, which is much better than waiting for verdicts in court proceedings. Furthermore, North Macedonia has 46 licensed mediators.
The Ministry of Justice have been sending extradition requests on regular basis. Extradition has been requested several times for people who have fled. What has been the response?
Extradition requests involve procedures with foreign countries that always have the final say in the process. Almost always different reasons are listed as to why a request has been dismissed – in some cases the perpetrator cannot be located, sometimes the countries decide not to extradite someone, other times the process continues as further materials are requested. It’s our duty never to give up on meeting the demand of judicial bodies that criminals should be returned to North Macedonia. We’re in constant communication regarding all cases that are ongoing.
Recently, Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski said that the former PM Nikola Gruevski will come back to serve his sentence handed down to him by a judge in the “Tank” vase. Gruevski had fled to Hungary, where he had been awarded a political asylum. How could he come back to the country and is someone going to be held accountable for his escape?
You must know that the country so far has taken everything in its power to have Gruevski extradited back to the country. There is no limit as to how many times a country can request extradition of fugitives. The decision of the Constitutional Court declaring the decision of former president Gjorge Ivanov to withdraw pardons as constitutional is considered a novel moment in these case. Two extradition requests for the former prime minister have been filed so far – one dated 11/20/2018 and the other dated 6/13/2019. We’re not giving up on having Gruevski extradited and we’ll continue to work to meet the goal.
Are you an optimist that the country could manage to administer a census?
Of course, the census is an obligation, it’s not a wish. A European country having no census for over 18 years is unthinkable. I’m optimistic that we’ll have a successful census, because the European Commission in the progress report had also noted that the pilot census had been successful. Parliament is expected to adopt the law.
The census is a statistical operation for policy-makers and investors to decide what kind of policies to make, where to invest. The operation can only be helpful for the country, it can do no harm whatsoever.
We’ll remember 2020 by Bulgaria’s veto to the opening of negotiations to join the EU. You have experience in relation to the country’s EU integration process as your previous post was closely related to the process. What’s your 2021 prognosis? How will things progress in an attempt to find a solution to the dispute, which would pave the way for North Macedonia to join the bloc?
The opening of North Macedonia’s negotiations for EU membership being delayed again is a major mistake. Our country has done everything it was asked to do as a precondition to start negotiating. Also, PM Zaev has said many times that there is no alternative to EU membership, but the price cannot be paid with our Macedonian identity or language. Talks with Bulgaria will continue, the country is our neighbor and we have to seek settlement to the differences through European dignified policy. Negotiations will continue with this administration in Bulgaria and with any other in the future.
As Bulgaria is preparing for elections, many have viewed the move as an election campaign of Borissov, Zaharieva, Karakachanov. Nevertheless, the veto is a reality. How any further delays of our EU integration efforts might affect the commitment to Europeanize the country? More specifically, do you expect any delays to the implementation of judicial reforms?
I’ve said before that the opening of negotiations would mark more intensive reforms in all areas, because any support from the European Union would be more intensive. It means we’ll face no delay in the implementation of reforms – we aren’t implementing any reforms for the European Union, we’re doing it for our citizens. In fact, it’s a reality that we are losing so much by not opening an intensive process of close cooperation with Brussels and the EU partners. It’s key to find a solution that protects our state interests and allows us to start negotiations.
Reduced court fees, a new methodology, census law, a motion on increasing fines for polluters are some of the things you’ve mentioned in terms of your first 100 days in office. In addition to filtration of the judicial system and the EU monitoring of court cases, which are the other priorities of the Ministry of Justice in 2021?
The Ministry of Justice is faced with major challenges in 2021. These include the electoral reform to allow us to introduce open lists in the October local elections. It requires a political consensus. Also, a new Criminal Code is in the works, which covers a lot of issues, the Law on Litigation and many others. I’ve said earlier that almost 12 new laws or amendments are being drafted. We are entering a dynamic year filled with many challenges.
The year will also mark digitization of courts to enable trials to go ahead despite the conditions and also to digitize the services the citizens are receiving in courts, etc.
Daniela Markoska Aleksovska
Translated: Bisera Altiparmakova
source: MIA
