13 Observations from Monitoring of Proceedings before National Courts
01 / august / 2020.
Belgrade, 1 August 2022 - During the period of seven years, from June 2015 to June 2022, our lawyers monitored the course of certain trials, mostly in criminal cases and mostly before the courts in Belgrade. The focus of monitoring was primarily on the right to fair trial, that is the degree of respect of international fair trial standards before the national courts. In this document we present to you the key experiences and observations from that process.
In no particular order, only a dozen observations, 13 of them altogether, have been listed in this document. Some have been singled out as more important than others because they refer to specific trials whose course we monitor / have monitored in the period June 2015 - June 2022 (few of them are still ongoing). Those observations are related to the (non) enforcement of the right to fair trial guarantees.
In addition to these, we have added several other observations from the same period. Some of those refer to the (im)partiality and (in)dependence of the court, and some are related to the right to fair trial only indirectly, but they are being mentioned because they also touch upon the integrity of key institutions in Serbia and the (mis)trust of the public in the institutions vital for implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms (including the right to fair trial).
No ultimate conclusions about the (un)fairness of trials in Serbia should certainly be drawn solely on the basis of what is listed in this text, primarily because the lack of resources prevented us from getting more comprehensive insight into the practice of national courts. It should thus be highlighted that such conclusions were not even our goal here. However, we are of the opinion that the issues arising from the listed observations should not be ignored - they deserve a wider, discussion, open to the public, and the closer attention of the professional community and relevant decision makers as well.
Our lawyers will continue to monitor the course of certain trials in the upcoming period and, depending on funds available, shall conduct a proper analysis and publish an all encompassing, comprehensive report.
The document titled "13" can be downloaded here (in Serbian).
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The Alternative Report on the Implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy has been published
30 / january / 2016.
Belgrade, 30 January 2016 - The 2015 Alternative Report on the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2013-2018 and the National Action Plan has been published.
The overall goal of the project was to assess the fulfillment of the planned activities in accordance with the purpose for which they were adopted, more precisely to make an assessment of the compliance of the implementation of measures with the purpose of the Strategy.
The observations in the Report were made on the basis of analysis of collected data on events, measures and activities in the following chapters of the Strategy - Political Activities, Judiciary, Spatial Planning and Construction, Health, Education and Sport and Media, which were undertaken within 27 months from the adoption of the Action Plan and which had the impact on achieving goals envisaged in the Strategy and its Action Plan.
This Report also contains chapters on specific topics - circumstances or events of particular importance for (non)suppression of corruption in the Republic of Serbia. These are the Belgrade Waterfront project - Case study and (Non)adoption of spatial plans as a result of trading in influence and abuse of public authority - Case study.
The team that produced the Report is as follows: Dejan Milenkovic, PhD (chapter Political Activities), Jelena Stevancevic (chapter Judiciary), prof. Ksenija Petovar PhD (chapter Spatial Planning and Construction), Ksenija Radovanovic M. Arch. (Belgrade Waterfront project case study), Marina Mijatovic (chapter Health), Mihajlo Babin PhD (chapter Education), Milos Stojkovic (chapter Media), Andjelka Markovic, Slobodan Georgiev and Aleksandar Milijasevic (chapter Sport), Marko Ilic, Borjanka Majdevac and Jelena Golubovic. The editor of the Report is Andjelka Markovic.
The joint team of Law Scanner and Three Points produced this Report in the framework of a project supported by the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Serbia, with financial support of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Download the Report in Serbian here.
Download the summary of findings in English below.
