On 27.10.2023, the Center for Legal Research and Analysis within the project “Continuous and sustainable use of a performance monitoring tool (PMT) in the Public Prosecutor’s System in North Macedonia” organized a workshop “Presentation of a map for the movement of cases in the criminal-justice system – findings and challenges”. The project is a result of continuous financial support from the British Embassy in Skopje.
Lidija Stojkova Zafirovska, president of the CLRA, in her welcoming address thanked for the great interest in attending the event. She pointed out that the idea about a workshop on this topic arose from the need to present the challenges faced by the justice system in the overall process, starting from the receipt of an application at the public prosecutor’s office and ending with the passing of a verdict, and to find solutions for a faster and more efficient processing of cases in the criminal-justice system.
At the workshop, Chemonics representative Aran McMahon also gave a presentation, expressing his satisfaction with the presence of the event and pointed out the necessity of a thorough elaboration of this topic in order to emphasize but also face the challenges present in the daily operation of all judicial institutions.
Legal expert Zharko Aleksov, explained the way in which the map was prepared, that is, he presented the methodology for preparing the analysis and the map in each individual phase in order to successfully locate the problems and make efforts to reduce or remove them.
In addition, professor Gordana Lažetic and lawyer Aleksandar Godzo, concisely presented the findings of the analysis and expressed their views regarding the challenges that arise during the movement of cases in the criminal-justice system, as well as the ways in which they could be overcome.
After the presentations of the speakers, a large part of the attendees started a discussion and shared some of the problems faced by the institutions where they come from.
According to them, the map and previously shared reports are a good opportunity to capture where the prosecutor’s office and the public prosecutor’s system actually have problems and that exactly this kind of mapping of problems can lead to their resolution.
Those present appealed that the current problem with the movement of cases in the criminal justice system originates from insufficiently strong criminal charges, and the present investigators for financial crime and corruption emphasized that they do not have enough training on quite current topics in the field of financial crime (cryptocurrencies, money laundering ..), and also the lack of software that would be helpful in the prosecution of such crime. According to them, the lack of access to data, as well as the long period of time that passes during the implementation of bureaucratic procedures, is an additional obstacle.
