Skopje, 29 December 2023 (MIA) - After a public session was held on Friday over a motion on disciplinary liability of Supreme Court President Besa Ademi, the Blueprint Group for judiciary reforms calls on the Judicial Council for careful handling of the proceedings and consistent respect for the Constitution, conventions, laws and established good practices in conducting the proceedings. 

The Blueprint Group notes in a press release that the Council's action to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the Supreme Court President is worrying, seeing that the stated basis for initiating the proceedings is that the Supreme Court President's has failed to attend sessions of the Judicial Council, and failed to attend a meeting after she made allegations of political pressure on the Supreme Court.

"According to the constitutional setting of the Judicial Council, the Supreme Court President and the Minister of Justice are ex-officio members without the right to vote, which is why their presence is not essential for the work at the sessions of the Judicial Council, in terms of decision-making," reads the press release. 

On the other hand, it adds, when it comes to ex-officio members, the recommendations of the Council of Europe and the European Union should also be taken into account, which indicate that precisely the absence of such members from the sessions can be interpreted as good practice, because that reduces the possibility of influencing the Council. In addition, the role of the Supreme Court President is more essential and significant within the organization of the work of the Supreme Court and the other courts in the Republic of North Macedonia.

"In addition, we must point out it is worrying that the hearing of the commission was held on 29.12.2023, i.e. on the last working day of the year, right before the New Year and Christmas holidays. Such action causes a potential risk of reduced attention of the domestic public and international representatives, in terms of following the session, which is of exceptional importance for the future state of play in the justice sector, given that the proceedings are conducted against the president of the highest court in the country," notes the press release. 

According to the Blueprint Group, the situation is all the more worrying given the overall context in which the proceedings take place. The 2023 EC report on North Macedonia, in the section on the judiciary, notes that "There are serious concerns about undue external influence over the work of the Judicial Council and judiciary." This also includes the current action of the Judicial Council in this specific case, the Blueprint Group adds.  

Therefore, the press release underlines, the Blueprint group calls for extremely careful, transparent and consistent handling of the proceedings by the Judicial Council, noting that it must be based exclusively on the accepted procedural and material provisions for good governance and independence of the judiciary, while also considering the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, presented at the session itself.

Consequences will be particularly difficult for the judges and disastrous for the entire judiciary, because pressure will increase from the fact that disciplinary proceedings can be held against them even for trivial matters like in this particular case, said the Blueprint Group for judiciary reforms, comprised of civil society organizations.