07 Dec THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH AND THE POLITICAL PARTIES SHOULD REFRAIN FROM STATEMENTS AND ACTIONS THAT QUESTION THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY
Reaction of the Blueprint Group for Judicial Reform to the media statement of the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, and the President of the political party Alternativa, Afrim Gashi
The Blueprint Group for Judicial Reform expresses its concern about the statement made by the President of the Government that an agreement has been reached with the leader of a political party for the Government to send an official request to the European Commission requesting a team of independent experts to carry out an international investigation into several completed judicial proceedings. According to the published information, it is primarily about the cases: “Monstrum”, “Divo Naselje” and “Almir Aliu”, which, due to the consequences they caused as well as the inter-ethnic narrative, had a particularly polarizing effect on society.
This practice, with political agreements, between representatives of political parties to agree on an “international investigation” of concluded court cases, while bypassing established mechanisms within the justice system, calls into question the sincerity of the Government in respecting the principle of division of power and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary.
The independence of the judiciary is a constitutionally guaranteed principle that stipulates the obligation for all other branches of government to refrain from actions that threaten it, as well as to create conditions for its respect. There should not be any inappropriate or unjustified interference with the trial which, inter alia, provides that court decisions can only be changed by the courts in a procedure provided by law.
The domestic legal system foresees mechanisms for “opening” concluded proceedings. The Law on Criminal Procedure regulates the conditions, the procedure and the competent court before which a certain concluded court case can be repeated. In addition, if there are indications that judges acted unprofessionally and negligently in performing their judicial function or committed a disciplinary violation, there is a procedure for determining responsibility before the Judicial Council of the MK. Similarly, there is a procedure for determining disciplinary responsibility of public prosecutors.
We also believe that the international community, which is present through its organizations in our country, continuously monitors the work of the judiciary and the prosecution, as well as court cases, for which there are also reports from the monitoring of progress in justice reforms, such as, the EU’s annual progress report, Pribe’s reports, GRECO’s reports. We also remind that even in case where the findings of the mentioned reports are negative, they are not a basis for repeating judicial processes, instead there are legal mechanisms for repeating judicial processes.
Bypassing domestic and international courts and established legal mechanisms and replacing them with ad hoc political solutions for “international investigations” negatively affects citizens’ confidence in the judiciary, as well as calls into question the reforms implemented in the judiciary in the last few years. At the same time, this non-institutional practice creates a feeling of legal uncertainty, but also gives false hope that there is “another” instance that is above the courts in the Republic of North Macedonia, which seriously violates the respect for the fundamental values of the Constitution, the division of powers and the rule of law.
We call upon and encourage the representatives of the judicial institutions, especially the Judicial Council, the Supreme Court, the Council of Public Prosecutors, as well as the Public Prosecutor of the RNM to take appropriate actions in accordance with the law to protect the independence and integrity of the judiciary. We also point out that convicted persons, as well as injured parties have the right to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights if they believe that the actions of domestic judicial institutions have violated a certain right protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.
Contact person: Goce Kocevski, gkocevski@myla.org.mk , 078/252-942.
Blueprint Group for Judicial Reform
- – Macedonian Young Lawyers Association
- – European Policy Institute
- – Institute for Human Rights
- – Coalition All For Fair Trials
- – Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
- – Center for Legal Research and Analysis
- – Open Society Foundation – Macedonia