“We celebrate International Human Rights Day to send the most important message that all people are equal before the law and that everyone has the right to equal legal protection. The overall work of the Ministry of Justice is aimed at protecting and promoting human rights, and equality before the law is especially important,” said Minister of Justice Bojan Marichikj at the Conference on Human Rights, Justice and Anti-Corruption “Next Station: Europe” organized by CIVIL.
Marichikj stressed that greater protection of human rights could only be ensured through independent and impartial courts and prosecutors’ offices, which would be free from any influence.
“We are at the very end of the preparation of the strategy, ie the methodology for cleansing the judiciary and the prosecution. It is no coincidence that I mention this process as one of the keys to building and restoring the independence and impartiality of the judicial system, which is a basic premise of the rule of law because justice means the protection of human rights. It is necessary to determine a time frame, ie deadlines in which this purge will be performed and the honest will be separated from the dishonest judges and prosecutors. On December 28, the Judicial Reform Council will adopt the Methodology according to which the purge will be performed, through which the Judicial Council and the Council of Public Prosecutors, as responsible bodies, will perform purification in their ranks,” Marichikj said.
The Minister added that many international reports specifically pointed to certain situations in the judiciary, for which it is necessary to see whether there is intentional cover-up of cases, their deliberate obsolescence, unjust treatment or insufficient protection.
“It is no coincidence that the European Commission has words about the proactive role of the Judicial Council. This refers especially to the part of the application of the new rules for appointment and promotion of judges, as well as for determining the disciplinary responsibility and their eventual dismissal. In the period from 2019 and 2020, 8 judges were dismissed, and according to the information from the Judicial Council, there are procedures for another 83. If we want to succeed and become a modern European state, justice simply must exist equally for all. “Only in this way can the citizens’ trust in the judiciary and the prosecution be increased,” Marichikj added.
