Skopje, 3 July 2024 (MIA) - Asked about the statements over a potential dissolution of the Judicial Council and reforms regarding the election of its members, Council president Vesna Dameva said she doesn’t subscribe to the thesis of collective responsibility. At Wednesday’s conference on the Judicial Council’s progress in implementing the EU peer review mission’s recommendations, Dameva said responsibility should be detected and individually sanctioned.

“As a legalist above all, I don’t subscribe to the thesis of collective responsibility, my personal position is that there should be individual responsibility, and it should be accurately detected and sanctioned. Everyone responsible has a first name and a last name, they should be detected and sanctioned individually if they have done something illegal, undermined the reputation and integrity of the Judicial Council or made a decision under the influence of various emotions etc.,” Dameva said.

Dameva pointed to the consequences of a potential adoption of a new Law on Judicial Council. According to her, the period between the dissolution and constituting of a new Judicial Council would become a vacuum period during which the statute of limitations could expire on certain cases. If those procedures cease, Dameva said a similar situation to the adoption of the Criminal Code amendments, which resulted in the expiry of the statute of limitations on numerous cases, would occur.  

“It’s not important to the citizens who the members of the Judicial Council are, who the president of the Council is, or what is discussed at the sessions. What’s important to the citizens is that the Judicial Council acts within its authorizations and decides which judge remains in the courtroom. If those procedures are halted and the unqualified or irresponsible judges are pardoned in a way, in that case justice won’t be on the side of the citizens,” Dameva said.

Dameva said the Council has already launched a reform process aimed at implementing the recommendations of the EU peer review mission, and is committed to succeeding in the processes that it is in charge of.

“The Judicial Council has seriously launched a reform process aimed at implementing the recommendations of the EU peer review mission, and we are firmly committed to succeed in the processes that we are in charge of. The Judicial Council has also started to reform itself in terms of personnel, as of last month the Council has two new members, in September another member will be replaced and by the end of the year we will have an additional two new members, which means that by the end of the year almost a half of the Council’s composition will be changed,” Dameva said.

Photo: MIA