Skopje, 18 December 2024 (MIA) - There is improvement in publicly available trial data, and setbacks in the performance and the number of resolved cases. Formal, but not substantive transparency in the work of the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors, including a significant brain drain in the judiciary and public prosecution, according to the data by the Coalition All For Fair Trials presented Wednesday at the annual conference for the 2024 presentation of the analyses.

Ahead of the conference, All 4 Fair Trials Executive Director, Darko Avramovski presented to the media the main findings from the monitoring on court proceedings, the work of the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors, and the state of human resources in the courts and public prosecution offices.

"The main findings regarding court proceedings are largely similar to last year’s findings, with certain improvements to the publicly available trial data and communication between courts and the public, however there is a setback in other areas such as performance and the number of resolved cases during the monitoring period," Avramovski explained.

On the other hand, he added, when it comes to the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors there are improvements in the increase of transparency.

"However, it must be noted that this is a formal transparency and not a substantive one- when there is a larger number of available data on the work of the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors for public disclosure of information and data, but those essential moments when they make a certain decision are again missing substantive justifications regardless of the type of decision in question. The latest and most recent example was the election of the members of the Governing Board of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, which was practically accompanied by the absence of substantive explanations and arguments why this is so, he added,” Avramovski pointed out.

The third analysis refers to the state of human resources, which according to him, illustrates that we are facing judiciary brain drain.

"The third analysis revealed surprising data, because a shortage of judges and public prosecutors in the country was somewhat expected, however, what was unexpected was that we are facing an unbelievable outflow in the judiciary and public prosecution, which we failed to compensate for in the last five years. If the trend continues we will be left with practically no judges, public prosecutors, and public services," Avramovski stressed.

Judicial Court President Besa Ademi highlighted the analysis on human resources, adding that such analysis serves to strengthen judicial solidarity and promoting the general condition in the judiciary.

"Cooperation with the civil organization must continue to intensify and their proposals must be respected and implemented. The availability of such activities is additional value, in the direction of strategic clustering for the rule of law and reform strategies. We need to jointly work together for the good of the judiciary, promote cooperation with civil organizations on behalf of the public interest and the interest of citizens," said Ademi.

The conference is also set to discuss the role of the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors in the judicial system, review the status of the judicial monitoring carried out in 2024, and will present the report on the efficiency of the judiciary and public prosecution according to the situation with human resources. ssh/ba/

Photo: MIA