Reaction of the Blueprint Group for Judicial Reforms to the media statement of the President of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, and the President of the political party Alternativa, Afrim Gashi
The Blueprint Group for Justice Reforms expresses concern about the statement made by the Prime Minister that an agreement has been reached with the leader of a political party for the Government to send an official request to the European Commission requesting a team of independent experts to carry out an international investigation into several legally completed judicial processes. According to the published information, it is primarily about the objects: “Monstrum”, “Divo Naselje” and “Almir Aliu”, which, due to the consequences they caused as well as the inter-ethnic sign, had a particularly polarizing effect on society.
This practice, with political agreements, between representatives of political parties to agree on an “international investigation” of legally concluded court cases, while bypassing the established mechanisms within the justice system, calls into question the sincerity of the Government in respecting the principle of division of power and guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary.
The independence of the judiciary is a constitutionally guaranteed principle that stipulates the obligation for all other branches of government to refrain from actions that threaten it, as well as to create conditions for its respect. There should not be any inappropriate or unjustified interference with the trial which, inter alia, provides that court decisions can only be changed by the courts in a procedure provided by law.
The domestic legal system foresees mechanisms for “opening” legally concluded procedures. The Law on Criminal Procedure regulates the conditions, the procedure and the competent court before which a certain legally completed court case can be repeated. In addition, if there are indications that judges who acted unprofessionally and negligently performed their judicial function or committed a disciplinary violation, there is a procedure for determining responsibility before the Judicial Council of the RNM. Similarly, there is a procedure for determining disciplinary responsibility for public prosecutors.
We also believe that the international community, which is present through its organizations in our country, continuously monitors the work of the judiciary and the prosecutor’s office, as well as court cases, for which there are also reports from the monitoring of progress in judicial reforms, such as , the EU’s annual report on progress, Pribe’s reports, GRECO’s reports, while we remind you that even in cases where the findings of the mentioned reports are negative, they are not a basis for repeating judicial processes, but for that there are legal mechanisms for repeating judicial processes procedures.
Bypassing domestic and international courts and establishing legal mechanisms and replacing them with ad hoc political solutions for “international investigations” negatively affects citizens’ confidence in the judiciary, as well as calls into question the reforms implemented in the judiciary in the last few years. At the same time, this non-institutional practice creates a feeling of legal uncertainty, but it also gives false hope that there is an “other” instance that is above the courts in the Republic of North Macedonia, which seriously violates the respect for the fundamental values of the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law.
We call and encourage the representatives of the judicial institutions, especially the Judicial Council, the Supreme Court, the Council of Public Prosecutors as well as the Public Prosecutor of the RNM to take appropriate actions in accordance with the law to protect the independence and integrity of the justice system. We also point out that convicted persons as well as injured parties have the right to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights if they believe that the actions of domestic judicial institutions have violated a certain right protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.