Prosecutors without protection from Vučić's pressures

It's official: television, portal and daily newspaper "Informer", led by editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vučićević, MPs Dragan Đilas and Vladimir Đukanović, portal "Republika" and protesters who blocked the buildings of judicial institutions in Novi Sad in November 2024 exert undue influence on prosecutors in Serbia. This, at least, was determined at the extraordinary session of the High Council of Prosecutors (HPC) held on May 7, more than half a year after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad.

At the same session, it was also established that the President of the State, Aleksandar Vučić, is not among those who put pressure on the work of public prosecutors, despite numerous statements that led a significant part of the professional public to think otherwise. In what way does the president of Serbia not put pressure on public prosecutors? Let's go backwards.

LATE REACTION FROM THE COMMISSIONER

The canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad fell on November 1, the indictment related to this case was filed by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in that city on December 30, and in the meantime, the work of public prosecutors became a regular subject of discussion. Since November, the work of the prosecutors has been commented on and criticized almost daily by the entire public, the media, and the highest state and party officials.

The situation escalated on April 11, when 26 public prosecutors of the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade sent an open letter to the Commissioner for Independence, Milan Tkalac, a member of the High Council of Prosecutors who acts in cases of undue influence on prosecutors, with a request to react to the statements of the President of the State. That is, to the concrete statement of Aleksandar Vučić that he will "personally prosecute" the prosecutors who dare to raise the issue of the tractors lined up around Pionirski Park on the eve of the protest on March 15. "I will personally file a criminal complaint against the prosecutors, since I am guilty. I don't know what about the tractors that polluted, and the thousands of tractors all over Serbia that were engaged in opposition demonstrations, I guess they didn't pollute anything anywhere. So it's nice that they ride on those tractors, and these tractors that saved the lives of young people were destroyed, so their owners still need to be punished. I drove them personally, I'm guilty of all that, so let them prosecute me," he said. Vucic on April 9. He added the following: "And I will personally prosecute all those prosecutors who do that, to see what other prosecutors will say and what other courts will say."

Instead of an immediate reaction from the commissioner, there was silence. The extraordinary session of the Supreme Court of Justice was scheduled for May 7, almost a month after the prosecutors' open letter.

Before the session, "Vreme" sent an email to the High Council of the Prosecution, asking, among other things, whether - and when - the commissioner will take steps regarding the prosecutors' letter. This is also why there is still no report on the illicit influence on public prosecutors for the year 2024 on the commissioner's website, which in previous years was published no later than the end of February. The answer arrived promptly.

"I inform you that these issues will be discussed at the extraordinary session of the High Council of the Prosecution, which is scheduled for May 7, 2025", signed by: Commissioner for Independence Milan Tkalac.

DISCUSSION ABOUT VUCIĆ, BUT NOT VOTING

That's how it was. At the three-hour extraordinary session of the Council, available on their "YouTube" channel, the commissioner presented proposals for cases in which he believed that there was undue influence on the prosecutors. The session works as follows: after the agenda is adopted, each proposal is discussed and voted on individually. Thus, it was voted that the prosecutors were unduly influenced by, for example, "Informer" and Dragan Đilas.

Things were going relatively smoothly until it was the turn of the President of Serbia's statements. They discussed two disputed statements by Vučić. In addition to the fact that he will "personally prosecute the prosecutors" who are disturbed by the tractors around Pionirski Park, the subject of discussion was Vučić's statement from March, when he announced that all prosecutors who "do not protect order and law" will be dismissed. However, despite the lively discussion, there was no vote. Namely, the commissioner for independence assessed that the head of state did not exert undue influence on the prosecutors.

Why are these statements for the trustee not in dispute? As Tkalac said at the session, one of the reasons is that the president of the country is someone who enjoys the highest legitimacy among citizens. In addition, the commissioner assessed that Vučić's statements were not pressure because "they are not achievable", considering that the president of the state is not competent to appoint and remove prosecutors. However, neither "Informer", nor "Republika", nor the demonstrators, and recently neither MPs Đilas and Đukanović have that authority, so it was determined that they exerted undue influence on the prosecutors.

Thus, three weeks after the appeal of the prosecutors who requested protection from the pressures from the top of the state, the matter was concluded without even being fundamentally opened.

"SELECTIVE INTERPRETATION"

The President of the Association of Prosecutors of Serbia, Lidija Komlen Nikolić, stated in a written statement for "Vreme" that viewers of the session of the High Council of Prosecutors "were able to witness a selective interpretation of who and how can exert undue influence on public prosecutors."

"When it comes to certain media and parliamentarians, members of the Council, and even the Commissioner himself, stated that there is undue influence. However, when it comes to the President of the Republic, it was obvious that there was no intention of the majority of the Council to assess his statements as undue influence. My colleague Predrag Milovanović, as a member of the Council, tried to point out to the Council the weight of the words spoken by the President of the Republic in the discussion. The discussion went so far that it took on the nature of legal philosophizing and linguistic interpretation of every spoken word. the commissioner did not submit an explicit proposal that such a statement is inappropriate, with which position we do not agree", says the president of the Association of Prosecutors of Serbia.

At the end of the session, a statement was voted on, calling on everyone, including the highest state and political representatives, to refrain from undue influence on the prosecutors.

"In our opinion, the announcement is too mild, and the avoidance of the Commissioner for Independence, Milan Tkalac, to explicitly state his position when it comes to the statements of the President of the Republic is professionally unacceptable," says our interlocutor.

WHY IS THE COUNCIL NOT RESPONDING?

Although the commissioner at the end of the session assessed that Aleksandar Vučić did not exert undue influence on the holders of the public prosecutor's office, one more thing is interesting: why did the Council, despite the open letters and appeals of the prosecutors, wait so long to raise the issue at all?

There are several reasons. Among them are the lack of a quorum, as well as the elections for public prosecutors that took place during the winter, with which the Council was occupied.

"All this is very late. The impression is that some invisible hand is directing the work of the Council, and I think that this hand is more from Savska than from Nemanja Street. That is, that the chief public prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanović, is behind it," a well-informed source told "Vreme".

photo: marija janković

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade played a key role in Vučić's "fierce" fight against corruption from February of this year, and Prosecutor Stefanović, who is not on the best of terms with Supreme Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac, has meanwhile launched his own investigation into the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad.

"Currently, we are in a kind of heating up of the pre-election campaign. Elections for the High Council of Prosecutors will be held in the fall of this year. It is clear that through these elections, an attempt is made to distribute power, and Stefanović wants to have his own players in all of this," adds the "Vremena" interlocutor.

When asked what is the purpose of the President of Serbia constantly mentioning the prosecutors, the source of "Vremena" says that the idea is "intimidation, subjugation and the desire to bring the prosecutors into a state of self-censorship."

"The majority of judges and prosecutors still look at things opportunely and like sunflowers turn to the source of power. They are not ready to come forward by name and surname. Knowing how some who publicly rebelled before have suffered, people choose the line of least resistance. But that does not mean that they do not share the views of the united critical minority. The fight for the rule of law and the rule of law in this country has been going on for a long time," concludes our interlocutor.

HISTORY OF VUČIĆ'S STATEMENTS

The two cases that were discussed at the session of the High Prosecutor's Council are not the only examples of the potentially controversial relationship of the president of the state towards prosecutors. Back in November of last year, just three days after the fall of the canopy at the Railway Station in Novi Sad, Vučić made an assessment in a live program on Happy television that "it will be very difficult" for the prosecutors and judges in that case.

Then in February, when the mentioned "fight against corruption" officially began, he continued what he started in November. "Prosecution offices throughout Serbia are ready for a broad arrest operation. It will happen every day. Whether it will be from Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday, I have no idea. The prosecutors will work, to inform. They have a free hand, there will be difficult things for us", announced Vučić on Pink TV, and the prosecution, as if on a button, switched on. The arrests followed two days later.

Furthermore, when in March opposition MPs obstructed the work of the Assembly with smoke bombs and fire extinguishers, Vučić demanded a reaction from the prosecution.

"We are looking for responsibility, criminal-legal, and I am waiting to see what the prosecution will do and how it will react. If it had been the other way around, everyone (from the authorities, ed. nov.) would have been hanged by now," Vučić said at the time.

It didn't take long for the president to mention the prosecutors again. Already on March 21, Nišlije welcomed officials of the Serbian Progressive Party with eggs. Several students were arrested, but they were soon released, which is why the president angrily announced sanctions against the prosecutors and the police.

"Those police officers who don't want to protect order and law will be changed, prosecutors who don't want to protect it will be changed," Vučić said the next day in a conversation with citizens at the National Theater in Leskovac, during a visit to Toplicka and Jablanica districts. He also assessed that "what the prosecutors did in Niš is a shame on top of shame" and asked how it was possible that "with so much violence last night in Nis, the prosecutors did not ask for detention".

Upon that, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš immediately requested a detention of up to 30 days for one of the students who participated in the incidents during the reception of the progressives in that city. However, the court rejected this proposal.

By the way, it was Vučić's statement that prosecutors who do not protect law and order will be changed that raised the most dust. Because of this statement, more than 500 judges and prosecutors signed a statement stating "that it is the last moment for judges and prosecutors who have so far silently observed the process of enslaving the judiciary to raise their voices and oppose this and similar actions."

The Commissioner for Independence missed that moment.

Stefanović vs. Đilas

One of the persons whom the Court of Justice assessed as exerting undue influence on the prosecution is Dragan Đilas, the president of the Freedom and Justice Party and MP, who told prosecutor Nikola Pantelić in November that in Serbia "it is a short path from the prosecutor to the accused".

After the VST announcement, Đilas sent an open letter to this body, in which he stated that they "forgot to mention Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić" in the text.

"Didn't you notice, gentlemen, that the man who has all the power in this country says who should be arrested and who should be released? And who arrests and releases through the head of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanović. Did you not hear that he is asking, for example, for my arrest, and Koluvia's release?", stated Đilas.

In the shortest possible time, the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade announced itself, which addressed the High Council and called on it to react "urgently and decisively" regarding the "re-targeting of public prosecutors" and the allegations of the President of the Freedom and Justice Party about the work of the prosecution, considering them "inadmissible pressure from that opposition politician".

Another answer from Dragan Đilas followed.

"Nenad Stefanović, the head of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, is the only prosecutor in the world who claims that laws will be respected and that, without pressure from politicians, prosecutors and judges will implement them - he perceives them as a threat and pressure. What are you afraid of, Mr. Stefanović, if you have not broken the law?" wrote, among other things, the president of the SSP.

At the time of writing, the High Prosecution Council has not responded to the request of the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade.

Political prisoners in Novi Sad

At the time when this text was written, the VJT in Novi Sad submitted an indictment to the High Court in that city against 12 activists of the Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) and the organization STAV.

They are charged with the criminal acts of preparing an act against the constitutional order and security of Serbia, attacking the constitutional order and calling for a violent change of the constitutional order.

"The prosecution suggested that the High Court in Novi Sad, after the main trial, declare the defendants guilty and impose the maximum punishment prescribed by law for the criminal offense they are charged with," the prosecution's announcement states.

Activists face up to five years in prison.

Six activists from Novi Sad have been in custody for almost two months, after an audio recording of a meeting where they allegedly planned to break into the Serbian Parliament and Serbian Radio and Television during the March 15 protest in Belgrade appeared in the media. The other six activists have been out of Serbia since then, and a warrant has been issued for them.

How to protect public prosecutors

When asked by "Vremen" whether public prosecutors in Serbia are able to work without political influence and fear of consequences, the president of the Association of Prosecutors of Serbia says that the constitutional definition of the independence of the prosecutor's office "has recently been used in public discourse by certain members of parliament, who have started advocating the idea of ​​changing the Constitution again and putting the public prosecutor's office under the control of the executive power, i.e. the Government of Serbia".

"At this moment, although there are numerous legal mechanisms that protect public prosecutors, they are not applied in practice, first by the public prosecutors themselves, and then by the body that is in charge of protecting independence, which is the High Council of the Prosecutor's Office," points out Komlen Nikolić.

The interlocutor of "Vremena" states that she personally believes that "individual public prosecutors agree to act in certain cases on the basis of messages that they could hear in certain media".

"They knowingly agree to it and thus damage the reputation of the public prosecutor's organization. Some public prosecutors, on the other hand, still remember the disastrous reform of the judiciary in 2009 and it is evident that they act cautiously in certain cases. The third group of public prosecutors are those who want and do their work independently without any influence. These public prosecutors do not have effective protection of their independence. Not only do they have no protection, but any future advancement in the public prosecutor's organization is also called into question. "Integrity in the work of public prosecutors has become undesirable and is punished by lack of advancement", says the president of the Association of Prosecutors of Serbia.

In response to the question of what could be an adequate institutional reaction to political pressures, Komlen points out that in Serbia it would be a timely reaction of the High Council of Prosecutors, which would be clear, unambiguous and communicated to the public.

"Public prosecutors, on the other hand, could protect themselves by the way they perform their function and act in certain cases. By not agreeing to work according to the orders of individual chief public prosecutors. By stopping listening to the public and abolishing self-censorship in their work. And finally, they can always address the public. Lately, we have been able to make sure that only the public can provide protection to public prosecutors," concludes Komlen Nikolić.