Skopje, 2 December 2024 (MIA) – Judicial Council President Vesna Dameva on Monday stepped down from her post saying the executive and legislative government have been making no effort to ensure swift and efficient justice and due to attempts made by top government officials to ruin her integrity.

“When there’s no understanding to improve conditions in the judiciary, obstructed by the government and when the prime minister and politicians from the ruling majority have been expressing a negative stance against the Judicial Council, against Council members… I believe the only thing left to do is to protect my personal integrity and my peace of mind and that of my family. As a result, I’m filing an irrevocable resignation as president of the Judicial Council of the Republic of North Macedonia,” said Dameva.

Dameva said PM Hristijan Mickoski’s allegations for falsified minutes in the Judicial Council, presented recently during a Parliament session, aim at ruining the reputation of the Council. 

“PM Hristijan Mickoski in Parliament has said that there are clans in the Judicial Council, which I am president of, and that minutes had been falsified. On several occasions, Mickoski as well as ruling politicians have criticized Judicial Council members, their association with some politicians from the former administration so as to convince the public that the Council, including myself, are not professional and accountable,” stated Dameva.

Both the Judicial Council and the Council of Public Prosecutors, she added, had been pinpointed as bodies that need to be dissolved. “In a television appearance, Mickoski even said that ‘their’ people should be made members of the councils replacing incumbent members, I guess he was referring to judges or prosecutors close to the ruling political party.”

This to be happening in a democratic country, is very serious even devastating, she stressed. 

In order to protect the reputation, Dameva said, the Judicial Council didn’t react to remarks by politicians after naming publicly some judges and interpreting legal situations.

The Judicial Council at 2 pm will hold an emergency session to verify the resignation of Vesna Dameva and to elect a new president.

Judicial Council president has a two-year term.

Dameva was dismissed in April 2023 after she requested that the accountability of judge Enver Bexheti should be discussed at a Judicial Council session. Back then, her deputy Selim Ademi called for a vote to dismiss her with seven members voting in favor. After verifying her dismissal, he took over the session in her presence. Dameva filed a lawsuit against her dismissal. The Administrative Court on January 3 annulled the decision and reinstalled her as president of the Judicial Council. 

Photo: MIA