Author Yucom

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The Working Group of the National Convention on Chapter 23 condemns the illegal election of new heads of public prosecutors and public prosecutors by the High Prosecutorial Council on June 19, 2023, thereby calling into question its commitment to implementing constitutional reforms. Certain competitions for chief public prosecutors were announced as early as 2021, and with the adoption of new laws, the method of selecting chief public prosecutors has been completely changed.[1] The most important change is that public prosecutors are no longer elected by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, but by the High Prosecutorial Council, and that procedure must now be completely conducted by this body. Since this election grossly violates the new Law on Public Prosecution, we call for the initiation of proceedings from Article 56 (2) of the Law on the High Prosecutorial Council, and for the current president of this body, Branko Stamenković, to resign, as he obtains the function responsible for ensuring that the work of the Council is in accordance with the law.

 

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The third field training session for the improvement of the free legal aid system in the Republic of Serbia took place on Monday, June 19th, starting at 10:00 a.m., in the small hall of the Officers’ Club (Orlovića Pavla 28a) in Niš. Persons invited to attend this type of training were graduate lawyers employed in the local self-government units of Niš and surrounding cities and municipalities, as well as authorized personnel responsible for deciding on applications for free legal aid, and employees in the budget and finance departments.

 

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The aim of this Guide is to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises become familiar with legal proceedings and provide answers to the questions they may have before addressing the court regarding misdemeanors and economic offenses. It enables them to have a more realistic and comprehensive understanding of the judicial processes before entering the proceedings. The Guide contains basic information about proceedings before the misdemeanor and commercial courts in Serbia; details about the costs of legal proceedings; key information and guidelines, as well as relevant templates.

 

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On April 21, 2023, the president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM, Katarina Golubović, addressed at the 15th meeting of the EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), held in Brussels.

As this platform enables representatives of the EU and civil society from Serbia to monitor the country’s accession negotiations and to discuss issues of common interest, the main topics of this 15th meeting were the current state of the accession process, as well as media freedom in Serbia.

Moreover, since YUCOM is a member of this platform, Katarina Golubović presented the current state of the rule of law in Serbia.

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Katarina Golubović, the president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM), was among the key participants at the UPR Pre-Session events in Geneva this week. The event brought together human rights advocates and representatives of civil society organizations from Serbia to create a comprehensive report that evaluates the country’s progress in fulfilling the recommendations related to human rights. Mrs. Golubović played an instrumental role in this process, using the platform to highlight two critical issues that require urgent attention. Firstly, she emphasized the pressing need to strengthen judicial efficiency, which plays a fundamental role in protecting human rights and ensuring justice for all. Secondly, Mrs. Golubović drew attention to the significant challenges that human rights defenders in Serbia face every day, including threats, intimidation, and violence.

 

CHAPTER 23 – JUDICIARY AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
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The National Convention on the European Union Working Group for Chapter 23 alarms the public that only 36 hours after the end of the public debate, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted five judicial laws proposals that had entered the parliamentary procedure on January 17, 2023. It has raised the question of the meaning of the public debate, the purpose of 5 meetings held with the expert public, as well as more than 50 attachments with comments submitted to the Ministry of Justice, that were practically impossible to consider within that short period of time.

 

Human Rights Series
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Great technological leaps have made organizing public gatherings much easier while making them more vulnerable to government interference. The developing concept of online or hybrid assemblies – here regrouped under the definition of digitally-mediated assemblies – is now acknowledged by international and regional human rights standards. The importance of social media in organizing gatherings in Serbia was highlighted in the 2022 Freedom House report, which also noted frequent misinformation campaigns resembling the government’s official narrative. The report noted that the online streaming of environmental protests opposed to the construction of hydroelectric power plants helped the movement amass more than 100,000 followers on social media.

 

Press releases
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Following a gathering in Gračanica/Graçanicë, a diverse group of civil society organisations from Kosovo and Serbia have adopted the following joint statement calling for new constructive voices – voices that look to the future whilst retaining a keen eye on the past; voices that seek out partnerships and coalitions beyond the red lines that are supposed to define them; and voices that stand up publicly against divisive and derogatory rhetoric.

 

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