Belgrade conference
C O N C L U S I O N S OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
“
Judges'
Association of Serbia along with the Prosecutors' Association of Serbia was the
hosts of an International Conference “Independence of Judiciary and Challenges
of the Transitions”, held on
The Conference
was attended by over 120 participants, representatives of the professional
associations of judges and prosecutors from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Republic of Srpska, Macedonia, Romania and
Bulgaria, as well as from Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Germany, Poland, Portugal,
France, Czech Republic and Spain, whose judges' and prosecutors' associations are members of MEDEL (European
association of judges and prosecutors). Council of
Through the
exchange of experiences, participants noticed almost identical or similar
problems concerning the independence of judiciary, both in the countries that
are currently in transition or have recently gone through it, as well as in the
countries of so called “old democracies”. They concluded that, for the sake of
realization of the citizens' right to a fair trial, problems of the judiciary
should substantially be resolved:
- by conducting a
radical and comprehensive change of the judicial system, rather than by merely
replacing the current judges and prosecutors,
- by establishing
strong guarantees of independence and autonomy of the High Court Council and
State Council of Prosecutors, through designing of a legal framework for
election of their members among the judges and prosecutors and based on their
colleagues' proposals, as well as through creating preconditions for their
work, including adequate budget, appropriate spatial and technical working
conditions and sufficient number of employees in their supporting services,
- by establishing
relevant comparable criteria of competence, qualification and worthiness of the
candidates judges/prosecutors, as well as developing the objective criteria for
continuous evaluation of their work, that should be the only basis for
judges'/prosecutors' promotion, responsibility and dismissal,
- by training (initial
and continuous) of the judges and prosecutors, which should be considered not
only as their right but also as an obligation, in order to master theoretical
and practical knowledge and skills, aiming to a broadminded, professional and
independent performing of duties, in an
adequate and efficient manner, under the supervision of the High Court Council,
i.e. State Council of Prosecutors,
- by establishing of the system of disciplinary responsibility of the judges and prosecutors, which should be counterbalance and guarantee of their independence.
Judges and prosecutors liablility
Medel dedicated two meetings to this theme: a seminar in Prague (June 2006), and a round table during the conference of Belgrade (June 2007)
French report (Eric Alt)
Italian report (Alessandro Sutera Sardo)
Austrian report
Czech report (Ivana Hrdličková)
Discipline, ethics and the independence of the judiciary (Eric Alt)
Independance of the judiciary (René Versshur)
Texts
Opinion no 3 of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) on the principles and rules governing judges' professional conduct, in particular ethics, incompatible behaviour and impartiality
Documents
Independance and impartiality of justice -International standarts. (Cristi Danilet)
Basic principles on the independance of the judiciary (UN)
Recommandation 94/12 of the Council of Europe
Statements of Medel
Freedom of speach (march 2008), about the situation in Spain.
Nominations in international courts