The Council for Judiciary Reforms on December 28 will adopt the methodology to “filtrate” the judiciary and the prosecution, Justice Minister Bojan Marichikj revealed on Thursday.

The Judicial Council and the Council of Public Prosecutors will use the methodology as competent bodies, according to him.

Eight judges were dismissed in the period between 2019 and 2020 and proceedings are under way for another 83 judges, according to information from the Judicial Council.

“If we want to make it and become a modern European country, everyone will be equal before the law, and there will be no double standards in justice. It is a way to increase public trust in the judiciary and the prosecution offices and also by closing major cases involving high-ranking figures,” Minister Marichikj told a conference organized by NGO Civil on Human Rights Day.

Remnants from the past, he added, those who have hindered justice, cannot be part of the judicial system to hand down verdicts in the name of the citizens, they cannot protect and promote their rights.

“We are marking Human Rights Day to send the most important message – everyone is equal before the law and everyone should have access to legal protection,” Marichikj said adding that the Justice Ministry had been focused on protecting and improving human rights and most notably, providing equality before the law.

Independent and unbiased judges and prosecutors are those who can ensure protection of human rights, the Minister stressed.

Speaking at the conference, professor Aleksandar Spasov proposed that Human Rights Day should be marked as national day.

“As a small country, it is our international duty to contribute to promoting and affirming human rights protection. So many years after the adoption of the universal human rights declaration, not only are they constantly violated, they are also downplayed with the emergence of many anti-democratic, populist political movements,” he said among other things.