At the time of Covid-19, Judges and Prosecutors were communicating online with citizens in Serbia

Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights YUCOM, supported by the Constituencies for Judiciary Reform in Serbia Project (Open Doors of Judiciary – a literal translation of the project name in Serbian), organized online Local council meetings where judges, prosecutors and their deputies, law professors, attorneys, representatives of Bar Chambers, Local Self Government Units, Centers for Social Work and local legal aid providers opened their virtual doors to the citizens. Citizens’ trust in the judiciary is built through open communication. Our project established a dialogue between citizens and the judiciary. During the Covid-19 pandemic, judges and prosecutors spoke publicly about the rights and processes that citizens are most interested in at this difficult time. So far, over 20 online local council meetings have been held. Blogs, written by those same judges and prosecutors, were read by half a million people in Serbia, a country out of 7 million people. BBC and other respected media stations broadcasted what we were talking about. Open Doors of Judiciary helped us understand the new legal position that was brought to us by the measures during the pandemic. Every time, we bring new faces of the judiciary system who try not only to explain to the citizens certain rights or situations, but also to answer all their questions. One question – one answer. Step by step. Currently, this step is being taken by over 200 representatives of the judiciary together with us, and that is the way in which we build citizens’ trust in the judiciary.