Skopje, 18 January 2024 (MIA) — The newly elected Skopje Appellate Court judges were sworn in on Thursday, taking the oath of office in a ceremony before the Judicial Council.

At its session on Nov. 15, the Judicial Council elected Gabriela Gajdova, Aleksandra Ristevska, Vesna Dimishkova and Osman Shabani criminal judges and Aleksandar Shopov, Irena Kostadinova Angelova, Natalija Doneva and Ilir Sulejmani civil judges at the Skopje Appelate Court.

This was the first time judges at a court of second instance were elected on the basis of the new Law on the Judicial Council. Their election, however, was followed by backlash amid allegations of subjectivity and abuse of rankings and the Badinter mechanism.

Judge Olja Ristova from the Skopje Criminal Court, who was not elected despite ranking third in the final ranking list and receiving eight votes "in favor" and four "against" (although not receiving the required Badinter majority, after getting two votes "in favor" and three "against"), claimed the election had unjustifiably violated the ranking list. She filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court.

Forty-five candidates had applied for the eight Appellate Court posts, of whom 21 candidates were competing for four civil court judge posts and 24 candidates were competing for four criminal court judge posts.

The Judicial Council session for the election of appellate judges was held at a time when the Judicial Council chair was Sashko Georgiev. He had replaced Vesna Dameva, who was dismissed from the chair post in April 2023 upon her deputy Selim Ademi's request for a vote for her dismissal.

Dameva filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court, which annulled the dismissal decision in January. At a session of the Judicial Council on Jan. 3, Georgiev resigned and Dameva resumed her post as Judicial Council chair. mr/