Montenegro

Ministry of Justice of Montenegro organized public debate over Draft Criminal Procedure Code

“The reason for adopting a new Code is a new concept of investigation, which will move investigation from courts to the State Prosecutor,” said Mr. Miraš Radović, Minister of Justice in Montenegro. He emphasised that the Draft offers precise division of responsibilities implying that the State Prosecutor bears the responsibility for the first phase of proceedings, while the court is in charge of the second phase, which is very important when deciding on someone’s guilt or acquittal. “Investigation led by the Prosecutor implies better division of roles and better organisation of criminal proceedings, especially in regard to complex crimes. There is an increased need for international cooperation with more countries in domain of organised crime and corruption, which requires harmonisation of the Criminal Code. Question is whether there could be efficient work if in some country where the investigation is led by the Court and in another where it is led by the Prosecutor. Therefore, it is necessary to harmonize criminal codes for the sake of more efficient fight against organised international forms of crime,” stressed Minister Radović. “One of the most important goals of the Ministry of Justice is strengthening of efficient judiciary, and one of the most significant measures is creating effective and efficient system of criminal proceedings system which we are trying to adopt through this law. We have a paper as a solid base for creating a new law, and public debate will make it even better,” Minister Radović concluded.

Prof. Drago Radulović, Chair of the Working Group that prepared the Draft Code, said that the Draft Criminal Procedure Code is a seismograph of human rights and freedoms. “The Draft Code is fully harmonized with the Constitution, and after Constitution this is the most important legal act. Therefore, we got down to work on its preparation fully responsibly and seriously,” Prof. Radulović added.

Mr. Waldemar Figaj, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro said that the reform of criminal legislation of a country is a great challenge and that the OSCE is assisting Montenegro in harmonization of the legal system with the European legislation. “The Draft is important because it proposes structural changes in the criminal proceedings and the way they are being conducted by shifting the investigation responsibility to prosecutors, which will make the judiciary system more efficient,” Mr. Figaj stated.

 

 

Mr. Mirsad Bibović, UNDP Institutional and Judicial Reform Cluster Leader, said that in all its projects UNDP puts special emphasis on so called strengthening of the capacities for implementation. “Behind this technocratic phrase there is a simple fact that adopting of various laws and plans always represents just the beginning, and practical results are what matters. And the results depend on political will, structures and people who are responsible for achieving of those results. There has been a small number of final verdicts in corruption cases, and the situation is not better when it comes to the verdicts reached in domain of organized crime. That is why we expect this new Draft Criminal Procedure Code to strengthen the role of Prosecutor in pre-criminal and criminal justice, and that the anticipated measures of secret surveillance on corruption and other criminal acts listed in the Draft to be adopted and implemented,” said Mr. Bibović. “If this happens, then we will be sure that the Code will be beneficial to easier proving of acts with elements of corruption. We see creation of special departments for fight against organised crime, corruption, terrorism and war crimes at two Higher Courts in Podgorica and Bijelo Polje as a step forward. We also believe it is positive that the Special State Prosecutor’s jurisdiction for fight against organised crime has been expanded to include corruption, terrorism and war crimes. At the same time, we think it is necessary to strengthen the Special Prosecutor’s Office in terms of personnel and materially, because in this way readiness would be shown to add importance to this institution within the system, to recognise their extremely important role and, very practical, to help them with the difficult job they took over, Mr. Bibović concluded.

The work of the roundtable included the following presentations: Key new provisions of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code (Prof. Drago Radulović, Chair of the Working Group); Results of the impact assessment analysis of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code (Prof Milan Škulić, Professor at Belgrade Law Faculty/OSCE Mission to Montenegro expert); Overview of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code (Mr. Juergen Dehn, German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation - IRZ); Implementing the UN Convention on Corruption /UNCAC/ in Montenegro, with an emphasis on UNCAC Article 50, Special Investigative Techniques (Mr. Erik N. Larson, UNODC/DTA/TLAB/CECS Crime Prevention Expert, UNDP expert); Financial implications of the introduction of the new Criminal Procedure Code (Mr. Milan Prebiračević, OSCE Mission to Montenegro expert).

Presentation of UNDP Expert Mr. Erik N. Larson

Public Debates on Draft Criminal Procedure Code for the southern region of Montenegro will be organized in Kotor (May 5th ), and in Bijelo Polje (May 7th) for the northern region.

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UNDP has been supporting the Judiciary Reform in Montenegro ever since 2004. Together with the Ministry of Justice, courts and prosecutors' offices we have, among other things, worked on harmonizing local regulations with international standards and acquis communautaire; transitional justice programme; development of Judiciary Reform Strategy and Action plan for implementation of this Strategy.

This year, supported by the Norwegean Government and in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, UNDP is implementing the Project of strengthening judiciary capacities for fight against organized crime and corruption, which one part refers to public debates and promotion of the institution of Draft Criminal Procedure Code. 

UNDP plans to continue to support the judicial reform. Among other things, we see as priority changes in Criminal Code which should reflect new circumstances. UNDP will help in maximal harmonization of these changes with the international standards and the European Union. Also, in cooperation with the Training Center and other judicial organs, UNDP will work on training of judicial office bearers.