by: XHABIR DERALLA
The hardest reforms are always the judicial ones. The world media and industry of documentary and feature films are filled with names of judges, both good and bad, corrupt and noble, capable and incapable. For decades, the Macedonian judiciary has been untouchable. Even though judges are constantly talked about between people, that voice could never reach the places where changes could be made. Reforms in the judiciary have been promised a great number of times before, but remained to hang as pre-election carrots. For a judge to answer to justice for irresponsible work or corruption was pure fantasy. But, the reforms have become reality, despite all the blockades, pressure, and black campaign, the goal of which was and is to hinder the efforts to “air out” and “filter” the judiciary.
The calls for justice and promises that it will arrive, have become reality. The newest dismissals of judges speak for the fact that the demands, expectations and hopes have not been in vain. Finally, a way out of the decades-long judiciary labyrinths, where it was hard to differentiate and separate the honorable from the dishonorable judges or the competent from the incompetent, can be seen.
The big promise of the Government, that there will be justice in our country, that an audit of the work of the judiciary will be conducted, is already being realized at large. The results are visible. For a relatively short period, up until this moment, sixteen judges have been dismissed. According to the announcements, the process will continue at an intensified pace.
For the less informed, it is important to know that it was key to create a functional Methodology according to which the Judicial Council can carry out checks in the judiciary and initiate proceedings for dismissal of judges found to have made mistakes in their work or to have deliberately made cases obsolete. After many years of waiting, that Methodology finally exists and is being implemented.
From the reports of international institutions, it can be seen that government efforts and results are being recognized. For example, in the Key findings of the Report of the European Commission in 2020, it is concluded that “there is good progress in the implementation of the strategy for reforms in the judiciary, the Urgent retorm priorities have been addressed, as well as the recommendations of the Venice Commission and the Expert group for system questions from the area of the rule of law”
The fact that the system is in a phase of radical reforms is also being recognized and welcomed, and given the pace of the reforms and “airing out”, by the end of this year only better reviews from the international community can be expected.
In the past period, the public and international community could witness that in our country, problems that have accumulated for decades are being solved. Unfortunately, as a result of the black campaign and obstructions, perceptions that have been built for years, are harder to change. But it is important that the changes be here and be essential.
What are the latest news of the “airing” of the judiciary?
Goran Boshevski, who was dismissed a few days ago, is a classic example of a judge who deliberately made cases obsolete.
Stojanche Ribarev, a judge of the Supreme Court has also been dismissed. There has already been a great deal of posts in the media about how the president of Basic Court Skopje 1, in the capacity of acting president, took a sick leave precisely when the Criminal Council of the Organized Crime Department should have completed the “Fortress” and “Target” case for mass illegal wiretapping as soon as possible, for which Goran Grujevski and Nikola Boshkoski have been accused. He opened the sick leave immediately after he was trialed in the SPO for the AKMIS system. His office had been searched in October 2017 and a computer and other evidence material had been collected. At the same time, the office and home of the former president of the Basic Court Skopje 1, Vladimir Panchevski, were also searched. He is already sentenced to a prison sentence of three years and six months for abuses of the AKMIS system.
Also dismissed are Zorancho Micevski, former President of the Court of Appeal in Stip, and Suzana Zdraveva, a judge in the Court of Appeal, also in Stip. It is known for Zdraveva that she was not exempted for a case in the Clinical Center in Stip, because the lawyer’s office where her son worked, represented one of the parties in the proceedings.
That is what judicial reforms and justice in a civilized, democratic society mean. Maybe some people expected “heads to roll” and there to be “shooting”, and lynching and judging by shortened procedure, but that is not how way things work in a country in which the accumulated problems are solved institutionally. Of course, the strategies and laws mean nothing, they were present in abundance even in the time of the Gruevski regime. They mean something, only if implemented resolutely and without compromise.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
